Level: 3
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0
2010 NAPT Venetian
2010 NAPT Venetian Main Event
Day: 1
Event Info
2010 NAPT Venetian
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Buy-in
$4,750
Entries
872
Level
32
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
20,000
Players Left 1 / 872
Filter
(1)
Despite losing a few players within the first two levels, the room is still packed wall to wall. When we get the official numbers, we'll surely bring them your way and let everyone know how many entered. It looks to be just under 900!
They're not the only ones to have doubled, of course. It's just with an 800-strong field, it takes a while to wend through the tables and count down stacks.
The flop came down
and Phillips checked. His opponent fired 2,800 and Phillips folded.Phillips is working on about two hours sleep thanks to a late night last night. The lack of sleep doesn't seem to be bothering him though, as he's got double the starting stack and continues to be the most active player at his table.
. His opponent, a middle position player, had checked the action but decided to make the call.Both players checked the
turn. On the river Turner's opponent led out for 3,000. Turner unhappily threw a matching 3,000 into the pot, then mucked his cards when his opponent showed down 
.Turner has slipped to roughly 27,000.
between Dwyte Pilgrim and one other player. Pilgrim fired 800 and his opponent called.The river was the
and Pilgrim fired 1,500. His opponent didn't look to happy about Pilgrim firing out the bet, but made the call anyway. Pilgrim tabled 
and then his opponent tabled 
for the winning hand.Pilgrim dropped to 31,000 chips, but still has a big smile on his face. Maybe that's because he's kicked off 2010 on a heater at the tables. In January, Pilgrim won a $500 event and a $300 event at the Souther Poker Championship good for $52,040 and $28,733, respectively. He also took second for nearly $45,000 in a $1,000 event at the same series.
So far in February, Pilgrim has scored a sixth-place finish at the WSOP Circuit event in Tunica for just under $27,000 and then he won the Mega Stack Challenge XV at Foxwoods for over $50,000. After his win on the East Coast, Pilgrim made his way to Vegas where he has already final tabled one of the preliminary events here at the Venetian.
We told Steicke that with the field still containing more than 750 players, it was hard to determine who the leader might be.
"Well they don't wait long, do they," Steicke replied. He counted down his stack at approximately 45,000 -- definitely above the par, but nowhere close to the top.
The chip set that the Venetian uses for its high-profile tournaments have a very elegant -- but some would argue impractical -- design. Each starting stack contained green (25), black (100), purple (500), yellow (1,000), red (5,000) and brown (10,000) chips. The flecks on the sides of the chips are small and difficult to see. The biggest complaints are with the dark colors: black, purple and brown.
The black and the brown are a particular challenge because they represent such vastly different chip amounts. Players have been instructed to make sure that their biggest chips are on top of their stacks so that there are no "surprises" at any point in a hand. Some players are following this rule; some are either unaware of it or are choosing to ignore it.
Unfortunately enforcement of this rule by dealers has been haphazard. It's probably only a matter of time before there's a dispute regarding hidden large-denomination chips.
. After the turn came the , Shak checked and the next player checked. The third player bet 4,500. Shak then check-raised to 15,000 while wincing in pain. He's wincing because of his arm that's in a sling due to a broken shoulder from a skiing accident. The next player folded before the player that bet the 4,500 tanked for a couple minutes and then made the call.The river completed the board with the
and Shak moved all in, using his one good arm to slide the chips across the line. The other player looked at the dealer and mumbled some complaints about the river card. After a minute or so in the tank, he folded 
face up on the table. Shak showed two red sevens for a flopped set and scooped in the pot to move up to 50,000 chips.
