2010 PokerStars.net NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event Day 1 | 2010 PokerStars.net NAPT Mohegan Sun

04-07-2010 05:19 UTC-12

Grumbling from the Poker Room

As you walk through the main Mohegan Sun poker room, where 15 tournament tables are currently in operation, you can't help but notice that the field seems tougher over there. Instead of two or three notable players at each table, there are five or six. Allen Kessler used his powers of observation and deduction to conclude that everyone in the poker room directly bought into the event or qualified via last night's super satellite that was run here at Mohegan Sun. To put it another way, there are no online qualifiers at any of those fifteen tables.

The pros at the poker room tables are not happy about this arrangement. Rightly or wrongly, the general consensus among pros is that qualifiers help make the field "juicy" and make a tournament like this more attractive for their time and money. Not having any qualifiers at their tables, they feel, is a significant disadvantage.

We spoke to Tournament Director Rick Landry about the situation. He noted that the poker room tables are "overflow" tables there were only added at 9 a.m. yesterday morning, when it became clear that they would be needed. By that time, all of the online qualifiers had already been registered for the tournament by NAPT and Mohegan Sun staff and had been assigned random seats in the main tournament room.

That explanation probably won't mollify the players in the poker room, but it at least makes sense.

04-07-2010 05:23 UTC-12

Number Growing in Impressive Field

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Donnie Peters

The field is now over 710 players and sill growing as we move into the second level here at Mohegan Sun. Registration is set to close after this level, so there's still hopes of reaching around 750 entrants total.

Team PokerStars Pro is out in full effect with Daniel Negreanu, Greg Raymer, Vanessa Rousso, Chad Brown, Jason Mercier and Angel Guillen all repping the site. Along with them are tons of local East Coast grinders mixed in with other top pros that flew in from all over the globe.

The field is rivaling that of the NAPT Venetian which had nearly 900 runners and was jammed with pros from wall to wall. The Venetian winner, Tom Marchese is in the building along with second-place finisher Sam Stein. "Miami" John Cernuto also final tabled the last NAPT event and is playing along with David Paredes and Eric Blair. This is going to make for a great event and some great play all the way through.

04-07-2010 05:44 UTC-12

Less than Thrilling

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It didn't take to long for players to start making their exits. Will "The Thrill" Failla showed up at the start of the second level, but it only took him about half an hour to dispose of his stack.

Tags: Will Failla

04-07-2010 05:46 UTC-12

Guillen Off and Running

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WSOP bracelet winner Angel Guillen is off to an excellent start here in the early-going this afternoon. He just took down a 15,000-chip pot with the nuts. On a board of {3-Clubs}

, Guillen's sole opponent checked. Guillen took more than a minute to think through his action, prompting his impatient opponent to start chattering about how he needed to speed up. Guillen ignored the table talk, finally choosing to bet 7,050. His opponent snap-called with a rivered set of nines {9-Diamonds}

. It was no good against Guillen's {A-Hearts}

, which flopped top pair and then made the running nut flush.

Tags: Angel Guillen

04-07-2010 05:51 UTC-12

Raymer is a Raising Machine

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Mickey Doft

Greg Raymer opened the pot with a raise to 350. He was called by a player in middle position and by the player in the cutoff.

The player in the big blind popped it to 1,450 and Raymer didn't slow down, making it 3,350 to go. Action folded around to the big blind and he gave it up as well, sending the pot Raymer's way.

Greg is up to about 35,000.

Tags: Greg Raymer

04-07-2010 05:57 UTC-12

Team Full Tilt in the House!

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One of the minor stories to come out of NAPT Venetian was that none of the members of Team Full Tilt -- some incredibly talented and successful tournament players -- turned up to play a big buy-in tournament that was held in their backyard. There were "Red Pros" in the field, but the very upper echelon players of Team Full Tilt did not play.

That is not the case here at NAPT Mohegan Sun. Team Full Tilt Member Phil Ivey is in the field, seated at a table near the center of the room, and we have heard reports that a few other Team Full Tilt members are registered to play.

04-07-2010 06:06 UTC-12

Gettin' Ronasty On 'Em

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Donnie Peters

Bardah waiting out his opponent's decision

After a player under the gun opened with a raise to 450, Ronnie Bardah reraised to 750 from the next seat. Action then folded all the way around to the small blind and he made the call. The big blind got out of the way and then the original raiser made the call.

The three players took a flop of {K-Diamonds}

and the small blind checked. The under-the-gun player checked to Bardah. IN a rbight yellow shirt and matching shades, Bardah fired out 1,050. The small blind called and then the player sandwiched between the two of them made it 3,000 to go. Bardah flat-called and the small blind slid his hand into the muck, leaving the two heads up.

The turn card added the {10-Hearts}

to the felt and the first player fired 4,000 with a small stack of chips. Bardah verified the count and then moved all in for roughly 25,000 total. The player tanked and tanked as Bardah sat motionless with both his fists over his mouth doing his best Phil Hellmuth impression. Eventually, he mentioned something about the player having {A-?}