2010 NAPT Venetian

2010 NAPT Venetian Main Event
Day: 1
Event Info

2010 NAPT Venetian

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
1010
Prize
$827,648
Event Info
Buy-in
$4,750
Entries
872
Level Info
Level
32
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
20,000

A Setback for Turner

We came to Jon Turner's table to see the red-haired poker pro involved in a heads-up pot. With the button, Turner bet 1,625 into a pot of roughly 2,400 on a board of {3-Spades} {k-Spades} {7-Spades}. His opponent, a middle position player, had checked the action but decided to make the call.

Both players checked the {Q-Clubs} 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 {K-Hearts} {j-Clubs}.

Turner has slipped to roughly 27,000.

Tags: Jon Turner

Phillips Staying Active

After one limper from early position, Carter Phillips raised to 775. The player in the hijack seat reraised to 2,100. The limper folded and then Phillips made the call.

The flop came down {6-Spades}{4-Diamonds}{3-Clubs} 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.

Tags: Carter Phillips

Movers and Shakers

Nobody is out to any sort of massive stack yet, but there have been some notables to double up. Daniel Negreanu was among the first and now sits with 55,000. He's joined by Nam Le (69,000), and "Miami" John Cernuto (63,000).

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.

Back in Action

The players have returned from their first break and the cards are back in the air.

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!

Level: 3

Blinds: 100/200

Ante: 0

Field of Champions

With so many pros in attendance, the field at times looks like a Tournament of Champions. If you're a big fan of players who've managed to take down the World Series of Poker Main Event, then the Venetian is where you want to be this weekend. The following Main Event champions are taking a shot today:

1983 - Tom McEvoy
1998 - Scotty Nguyen
2003 - Chris Moneymaker
2004 - Greg Raymer
2005 - Joe Hachem
2009 - Joe Cada

The 1989 winner, Phil Hellmuth, was here yesterday for the charity tournament. We assume he'll grace the tournament floor with his presence some time in the next two hours.

Break It Up

Watch out! It's break time, and the massive field is swarming toward the bathrooms. They'll be back in 15, if they survive the crush.

Field Booming

The field has now passed 850 entrants and registration is still open. Daniel Negreanu had a few bets on the number of entrants and won them with the over. A few tables in the salon area are still empty, but have chips on them waiting for some late registrants to straggle on in. This is quite the field for the PokerStars.net NAPT Venetian and the prizepool is bursting because of it.

Tags: Daniel Negreanu

Player Spotting Continued

By now we've had time to make it to the outer reaches of the tournament area, where the toughest online players seem to have found each other. There are definitely a few new candidates for table of doom.

We'd rather not be seated with Shaun Deeb, Paul Wasicka, and Fabrice Soulier. Or at the table with Carlos Mortensen, Owen Crowe, and Jordan Rich. Or, for that matter, with Brent Hanks, Brent Roberts, and Jonathan Jaffe. And we pity those stuck with Jason "JPOSU" Potter, Matt Graham, and James "Croll103" Carroll, seated six, seven, and eight.

Also on the outer tournament floor:
• Players of the Year Jason Mercier and Eric "Basebaldy" Baldwin
• Former POY John "Razor" Phan
• Poker-craze-starter Chris Moneymaker
• Bill Chen talking Jonathan Aguiar's ear off
• Tony Ma sharing a table with Chau Giang
• Gavin Smith sitting with Tony Cousineau
• Ted Lawson and tablemate Steve Brecher
• Jeff Sarwer next to Ryan D'Angelo
• also spotted: Randal "Randallin" Flowers, Amit Makhija, Adam "Roothlus" Levy, Cody "thugmoneymkr" Slaubaugh, Darus Suharto, Chad "lilholdem" Batista, Tom McEvoy, J.J. Liu, Dan Shak, Jonathan Tamayo, and J.P. Kelly.

Failla Left Short, But Still Feeling Good

On the flop of {J-Clubs}{9-Clubs}{2-Spades}, Joe Serock fired 500 and then Will "The Thrill" Failla raised to 1,500. There was two other players in the hand and only one of them made the call before Serock called as well.

The turn card was the {10-Spades} and Serock checked. Failla fired 3,000 out of his remaining stack of 15,500, leaving himself with 12,500. The next player called and then Serock took his time. About a minute later, Serock fired in a check-raise to 12,000. It was now Failla's turn to tank, and he did so for several long minutes. He tanked for so long that Daniel Negreanu struck up a lengthy conversation with a couple of people on the rail about healthy foods in the world. Eventually, Failla made the call. After he called, he only had 3,500 chips left in his stack. The other player in the hand called as well.

The river was the {4-Clubs} and Serock wanted to check on Failla's stack. "Don't worry about me, worry about him," said Failla, pointing to the other player who had about ten times the chips Failla currently had. Serock then bet 3,500. Failla folded and the next player paused. He then announced that he was all in and Serock didn't look happy about the shove. Eventually, he folded his hand and left himself with 34,000 chips.

After the hand, Failla turned to our reporter and said, "I'm winning this mother f***er! And count the chips!" Kathy Liebert then stopped by and Failla called her out for a last-longer bet, to which she didn't respond for a few seconds. Failla wanted odds, only having 3,500 chips and all, but Liebert didn't give it to him.

Tags: "The Thrill"Daniel NegreanuJoe SerockKathy LiebertWill Failla