The PokerStars North American Poker Tour Las Vegas stop is officially underway, with several key events starting play on Sunday, November 5, in preparation for the Main Event festivities.
Following very light action on Saturday, which only saw a couple of satellite events play out, Sunday brought a lot more action to the venue at Resorts World Las Vegas, with the $1100 NLH Deepstack, $360 Women’s Event, and the $10,300 NAPT Super High Roller all kicking off.
In addition, the two freeroll satellites for the new edition of the PokerStars Big Game On Tour were also played out, with the winners of their respective shootout tables automatically qualifying for Big Game auditions, which will see two players join the show as “loose cannons” and receive a $50,000 buy-in from playing high stakes cash games against the best players in the world.
The NAPT Las Vegas Main Event kicks off today, along with Day 2 of the High Roller, Women’s Event, and the Deepstack, which means the atmosphere at Resorts World will be even more electric than the previous days.
As we await the first chip counts and updates from the Main Event, let us take a look at what happened in Sunday’s events and what we can expect today.
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Tom Orpaz Leading the Way in NAPT Las Vegas Super High Roller
The most interesting event of the first full day of action at PokerStars’ NAPT Las Vegas was certainly the $10,300 NAPT Super High Roller, which started shortly past noon and attracted some very big names from the world of high stakes poker.
A total of 36 entries were made into the Super High Roller during Day 1 action, with 16 players surviving to play Day 2. It was late entry Tom Orpaz who came out on top at the end of Day 1 action, as the Israeli bagged 355,000 for a dominant chip lead.
Trailing him is the former EPT Monte Carlo Super High Roller champion Sergio Aido, with other big names like Jesse Lonis, Sam Soverel, and Dan Shak also still in the mix, and late registration is open until the start of play on Day 2, which means we will probably see at least a few more of the high rollers join the action on Monday.
Day 2 action in the NAPT Super High Roller kicks off with blinds set at 1000/1500, which means many of the remaining players will have fairly deep stacks, with the chip leader sitting on well over 200 big blinds.
Here is a look at the top 10 chip counts of the NAPT Super High Roller:
| Position | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Orpaz | Israel | 355,000 |
| 2 | Sergio Aido | Spain | 233,000 |
| 3 | Richard Green | USA | 191,000 |
| 4 | Calvin Lee | South Korea | 188,000 |
| 5 | Kyung Lee | USA | 164,000 |
| 6 | Jesse Lonis | USA | 124,500 |
| 7 | Sam Soverel | USA | 115,500 |
| 8 | Myles Mullaly | USA | 84,500 |
| 9 | Samuel Laskowitz | USA | 73,500 |
| 10 | Dan Shak | USA | 62,000 |
Deepstack and Women’s Event Shatter Guarantees
Two more side events started on Sunday, and both attracted reasonable playing fields, considering quite a few players looking to play the Main Event are only just arriving in Las Vegas.
Event #3 – $1100 NLH Deepstack offered a $100,000 guarantee but managed to attract 144 players to create a prize pool of $138,000 after rake and dealer fees.
This means that the champion of this one will receive a hefty $34,375 and a trophy as the remaining players return for Day 2 action at noon today.
Event #4 – $360 Women’s Event also created quite a buzz, with the ladies flocking to the Resorts World poker room to enjoy the exclusive event.
In total, 94 entries were made on Day 1, shattering the $20k guarantee and creating a prize pool of $28,200, with first place guaranteed a payout of $7520. The remaining ladies will reconvene to play down to the winner today at 1 p.m.
Big Game Qualifiers Play Down to 20
The newly announced PokerStars Big Game On Tour started the process of finding its two loose cannons for the upcoming season with two freeroll satellite tournaments playing out during NAPT at Resorts World.
The freerolls were played on a first-come, first-served basis and featured a shootout format, with the winner of each table advancing to the audition stage of the competition.
Today and tomorrow, PokerStars commentators and show hosts Joe Stapelton and James Hartigan will audition the winners and choose two out of a group of 20 to play on the first season of PokerStars Big Game On Tour as loose cannons.
The two selected loose cannons will receive $50,000 in cash game chips to play on two recorded cash games on November 8 and 9, where they will get to keep any profits they make playing a $100/200 NLH cash game against some of the top players in the world.
The full season of PokerStars Big Game On Tour will be available sometime during early 2024, with exact dates still to be announced by the operator.
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Big Action On Day 2 of NAPT Las Vegas
Today will be a big day at NAPT Las Vegas, as the first trophies will be handed out, and several exciting new events will kick off.
All three tournaments that started play yesterday will play down to a winner, which means we will crown three NAPT champions, including the Super High Roller and Women’s Event champions, both very prestigious titles.
The NAPT Las Vegas Main Event Day 1A starts at 11 a.m., with registration open throughout the day, and hundreds of players expected to eagerly jump at the opportunity to battle it out for a NAPT title after a 12-year hiatus.
The $550 Senior’s Event, $550 PLO, and several satellite events will also start play on the sidelines, which means the start of a truly hectic atmosphere at the venue, which will continue for the remainder of the week.
Stay tuned for more updates from NAPT Las Vegas as they come, and come back daily to find out the names of all the champions and all the interesting stories that come with each passing day of this exciting poker festival.
