We've spotted another tough table in the room, but they're not so much worried about this NAPT Main Event here in the early goings, but rather chatting about how to play Mexican poker. The table consists of two Team PokerStars USA pros, Jason Mercier and Vanessa Selbst along with Justin Young and Dave Sands. Young is busy explaining how to play Mexican poker to Selbst and his other tablemates. Selbst seems very keen on getting involved in a game later on.
![[user144624]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Kristy gives you a quick tour of the famous City of Angels.
In a recent hand, Eric Froehlich checked to Justin "Boosted J" Smith with a board reading 
. Smith took the opportunity to bet 2,125 and Froehlich quickly called.
When the 
hit the river, both players checked and Froehlich turned over 
for a rivered trips. Smith silently mucked as he dropped to 25,000. Meanwhile, Froehlich brought his stack up to around 33,000.
We caught up with the action on the river with a few thousand chips in the middle. The final board read 
and Keith Crowder had bet 2,700. His opponent put in a raise to 7,000 and that sent Crowder into the tank for several minutes. Eventually, he folded his hand, claiming to lay down two kings.
Ronnie Bardah opened to 275 and was called by Chris DeMaci in the next seat. Those two were the only players to see the flop and it came down 
. Bardah stayed on the accelerator and fired 350. DeMaci stuck around.
The turn card brought the and paired the board. Bardah fired again and made it 775. DeMaci quickly called to see the 
fall on the river. Bardah fired 2,325 and DeMaci didn't budge, sticking in the chips to make the call.
Bardah tabled the 
for a busted flush draw. DeMaci held the 
for top two pair and was pushed the pot.
With only about 1,000 in the pot and a board reading 
, Scott Montgomery checked to James Van Alstyne on the button. Van Alstyne pushed out two red chips and a single green chip, amounting to 2,025.
Montgomery wasted little time in adding some reds to the pot and raised 7,000 on top. Van Alstyne seemed perplexed by the bet and thought long and hard before making the call. Montgomery was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, so to speak, as he tapped the table in resignation. Cue Van Alstyne to show his hand, a modest 
. Montgomery had to do a double take at his opponent's cards while the rest of the table seemed impressed by the call.
Montgomery slipped to around 20,000 after the hand while Van Alstyne chipped up to near 40,000.
We've only browsed through half of the room here at the Bicycle Casino and have already spotted a couple of very tough tables in the field. The first table we saw has Brent Roberts, Mandy Baker, Eric Froehlich, Justin Smith and Scott Clements seated at it. The second we saw that looks equally as tough has Annette Obrestad, Brandon Hawkins, James Carroll, Jack Schanbacher and Alex Kamberis occupying seats.
Action was heads up between Justin "Boosted J" Smith and Eric Froehlich with 750 in the pot and a board reading 
. Froehlich checked to Smith who bet out a modest 125. Froehlich made the call and then checked the river. Smith checked behing and revealed 
, which was good enough to take down the small pot.
The poker pros keep pouring into the tournament area. Here is just a sample of some of the names in today's field:
Steven Brecher
Eric Baldwin
Shaun Deeb
Jonathan Aguiar
Scott Fischman
Vanessa Selbst
Jason Mercier
Barry Greenstein
Scott Seiver
Andrew Lichtenberger
William Reynolds
Pat Pezzin
Andreas Hoivold
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
