In a four-way pot on a flop of 10♣J♠Q♦, Jason Capeti bet 8,000 and a player moved all in to bring folds from the other two players. Capeti called with a bigger stack.
Opponent: Q♥9♦ 
Jason Capeti: Q♣J♥
Capeti's two pair stayed ahead for a knockout as the board finished out 7♥A♦.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
40,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
Level: 7
Blinds: 1,500/3,000
Ante: 3,000
A player was all in for around 10,000 in the big blind against Randy Leblanc in the cutoff.
Big Blind: A♣10♣
Randy Leblanc: K♦K♠
The flop landed 2♥A♦J♠ and Leblanc cried "you're killin' me, lady!" to the big blind before the board ran out 9♣K♥ to bring a big scream from Leblanc.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
42,000
42,000
|
42,000 |
Level: 6
Blinds: 1,000/2,000
Ante: 2,000
FPN has thousands of players and dozens of leagues across the country, most prominently in the north and Midwest.
There are FPN leagues in Arizona, Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. But the most FPN players reside in five states: Minnesota, Illinois, North Dakota, Texas, and Nebraska.
The North Star state boasts 3,974 players and is home to Billy's Bar & Grill, which has four FPN championship titles to its name. It's home to the likes of two-time FPN champion Joel Smith, reigning champ Marion Massmann, who won last year's Desert Dash-For-Cash Championship for $25,000, and last night's Royal Court National Championship winner Steve Belland.
Meanwhile, there are 2,937 FPN grinders in Illinois and 2,505 in North Dakota. Texas and Nebraska round out the top five with 1,668 and 1,324 players, respectively.
| Rank | State | Players | Venues | Leagues |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minnesota | 3,974 | 23 | 28 |
| 2 | Illinois | 2,937 | 22 | 30 |
| 3 | North Dakota | 2,505 | 29 | 31 |
| 4 | Texas | 1,668 | 9 | 14 |
| 5 | Nebraska | 1,324 | 12 | 15 |
A player was all in for around 10,000 against the bigger-stacked Dottie Mudd to his left.
Opponent: A♠J♦
Dottie Mudd: 10♣10♦
The opponent couldn't win the flip as the board ran out Q♠2♣2♠K♠Q♥ to keep Mudd's tens ahead.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
22,000
22,000
|
22,000 |
Level: 5
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 1,000
Players have been sent on a 15-minute break.
Note: Hours after this was written, Glenn Schaefers went on to win the Royal Court National Championship Main Event for a $12,000 WSOP Main Event package.
The Royal Court National Championship Main Event began with a request: raise your hand if you've played at an FPN Vegas National Championship before.
Dozens if not hundreds of hands raised up throughout the ballroom, but most of them dropped as the announcer asked if they had played five FPN championships. Ten? Fewer hands now.
The number of hands raised turned to single digits as players were asked if they had played 15 championships. Sixteen? Seventeen? Eighteen? By the time the announcer got to 20, there was only one player with his hand raised: seminal FPN grinder Glenn Schaefers, the single player in the room here since the tour's inception.
At last year's festival, PokerNews reported on Schaefers hitting quads twice in the first five hands of the day. He's also had a hot start this year, which is fitting for his 20th anniversary playing the tour that he watched grow through the Poker Boom of the 2000s.
“In 2009, it was at Harrah’s. There was only 25 players at the National. It’s like three tables. And now look at it."
The South Dakotan teared up as he pointed around the ballroom to the hundreds of players in the Royal Court National Championship.
"I can't believe it," he said with a shaky voice.
Schaefers described himself as a "barfly" who has spent two decades playing bar poker all over Sioux Falls — from The Thirsty Duck to Woody's. It's a game he first learned from his grandparents.
"Who don’t grow up with cards in the family? We’d always play poker. We’ve always played cards, no matter what form," said Schaefers.
What keeps Schaefers coming back to Vegas year after year? “The thrill, the adrenaline," he said before pausing, "friends. You meet a lot of new people."
The self-described barfly's 20th winter in Las Vegas is shaping up to be a memorable one as he has grown his stack up to 200,000.
