PokerStars NAPT Main Event Starts: Dongwoo Ko Takes Early Chip Lead PokerStars NAPT Main Event Starts: Dongwoo Ko Takes Early Chip Lead

The second full day of action at PokerStars North American Poker Tour Las Vegas saw hundreds of players come together at Resorts World Las Vegas as the first NAPT Main Event in 12 years got underway.

Alongside the first two starting days of the Main Event, NAPT Las Vegas also crowned its first champions, with the $1100 Deepstack and the $360 Women’s Event playing down to a winner and the NAPT Super High Roller playing down to the final six.

While all the focus was on the excitement surrounding the Main Event that saw many of the world’s biggest poker names, a handful of side events also ran in the background, along with live satellites for the Main Event and the $5300 PLO tournament.

Monday was just the first of several eventful days of the upcoming NAPT festival, and we will keep you up to date with all the action as it goes on. Let us look at a detailed report of yesterday’s events, along with a preview of the first NAPT champions for the year.

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NAPT Las Vegas Main Event Kick-Off — Dongwoo Ko Leads the Way

The much awaited NAPT Las Vegas Main Event started at the Resorts World Poker Room yesterday, with Day 1A and Day 1B played out in a single day.

The early Day 1A flight saw a total of 180 entries, with the likes of Nick Schulman, Dan Shak, Landon Tice, Kitty Kuo, and Anthony Zinno all in the mix, clearly demonstrating the serious nature of the reinvented PokerStars festival.

It was Canadian player Dongwoo Ko who climbed to the top of the leaderboard in Day 1A, accumulating a massive 435,000 in chips ahead of Joseph Tehan with 311,000 and Landon Tice with 300,500. Several other notables also made it through to Day 2, while some big names also fell along the way, including Eric Baldwin, David “ODB” Baker, and others.

Day 1B was a somewhat less eventful affair, as only 33 players showed up for the evening flight, eight of whom survived Day 1 action and moved on to Day 2. It was Cody Wiegmann who accumulated the most chips in this one, as he sits on 242,000 moving into Day 2, ahead of Daniel Baliti’s 204,500.

With two more Day 1 flights going on today, here is a quick look at the top 10 stacks who advanced to Day 2 of the NAPT Main Event from the first two flights:

Position Player Country Chips
1 Dongwoo Ko Canada 435,000
2 Joseph Tehan USA 311,000
3 Landon Tice USA 300,500
4 Theodore Curan USA 295,500
5 Cody Wiegmann USA 242,000
6 Peter Mugar USA 233,500
7 Byung Shin South Korea 232,000
8 Andrew Ostapchenko USA 214,000
9 Dominic Choma USA 210,500
10 Kevin McLeskey USA 209,500

NAPT Super High Roller Reaches Final Table

The $10,300 Super High Roller started on Saturday and saw 36 players show up to play on Day 1, with another 23 buying in for Day 2 action to complete a field of 59 players and create a prize pool of $572,000.

The event played down to the final six, with the remaining players playing together at the same table from when there were eight left and Shannon Shorr and John Morgan being the unfortunate two who would make the money but not the official final table.

The likes of Sam Soverel and Jesse Lonis both made the final table of the prestigious event. Still, it will be David Stamm who enters the final table as the chip leader, with James Collopy, Richard Green, and Spanish pro Sergio Aido completing the final six.

Here is a look at the final table chip counts for the NAPT Super High Roller:

Position Player Country Chips
1 David Stamm USA 852,000
2 Sam Soverel USA 775,000
3 James Collopy USA 415,000
4 Jasse Lonis USA 374,000
5 Sergio Aido Spain 354,000
6 Richard Green USA 180,000

Kyna England Lifts the Women’s Event Trophy

94 ladies showed up to play in Event #4 – $360 Women’s Event on Sunday, and yesterday saw the remainder of the field come back and play down to the eventual champion.

A final table made up exclusively of American players saw Kyna England and Lindsay Kludt play heads-up for the title, with England coming out on top and winning the $7,520 first-place prize and the coveted trophy.

Kludt took home a hefty $4,855 second-place prize, and the likes of Julie Salsido, Michelle Skinner, Daris Justice, Lena Evans, Janet Berry, and Kyoko Short were among the 12 players making money in this one.

Yesterday also saw Event #3 – $1100 NLH Deepstack play down to a winner, with Israeli player Kfir Nahum winning the trophy and the $34,375 first-place prize among 144 entrants.

A total of 20 players were paid in that one, with David Freestone, Shinichiro Hatakayema, and Yanxiant Yang all getting five-figure payouts as well.

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NAPT Action Continues Today

Today will mark another very exciting day at NAPT Las Vegas, as the Super High Roller plays down to a champion, two more flights of the NAPT Main Event start up, and the Senior’s Event, which started yesterday, also coming to a close.

The day will also be marked by the kickoff of the multi-day $5300 Pot-Limit Omaha event, in which we expect to see many of the same faces that showed up for the Super High Roller. For everyone else, PokerStars is throwing a quick $250 NLH tournament with a $20k guarantee that will play out in a single evening.

It may still be early going at Resorts World, but the festival is starting to heat up in a big way as we look forward to Friday, the first of three NAPT days that will be live-streamed on PokerStars YouTube and Twitch channels.

The operator will be live streaming Main Event action starting from Day 3, along with the final table of the $5300 High Roller, and we will see the likes of James Hartigan and Joe Stapelton joined by Maria Ho, Nick Walsh, and Griffin Benger for live streams you will not want to miss out on.