A short end was called to Day 3 of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Las Vegas Main Event, and Kai Nicholls was the one who would enjoy the early night the most.
The Aussie-born, North Carolina transplant ended up as chip leader over the remaining 40 players with 1,301,000. Nicholls first jumped up the leaderboard after busting Chance Kornuth in 62nd place when Kornuth called for his last 280,000 on the turn holding top pair, only for Nicholls to show the same pair with ace-kicker to win the pot. He then won a massive pot off Clemen Deng in the last level when he picked off a bluff on the river with two kings, climbing above 1,000,000 for the first time.
Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kai Nicholls | Australia | 1,301,000 | 130 |
| 2 | Richard Green | United States | 1,126,000 | 113 |
| 3 | Thomas Boivin | Belgium | 1,098,000 | 110 |
| 4 | Jesse Lonis | United States | 1,012,000 | 101 |
| 5 | Phillip Latimer | United States | 1,011,000 | 101 |
| 6 | Ekrem Bozkurt | United States | 979,000 | 98 |
| 7 | Jen Shahade | United States | 928,000 | 93 |
| 8 | Michael Berk | United States | 887,000 | 89 |
| 9 | Jeremy Halaska | United States | 836,000 | 84 |
| 10 | Evan Sandberg | United States | 817,000 | 82 |
Richard Green was also responsible for a noteworthy bustout when his flopped set of jacks improved to a full house to beat David Coleman’s pair of aces, busting the reigning GPI Player of the Year in 60th place. Green ended up in second place with 1,126,000.
Thomas Boivin, coming off a runner-up finish in the $50,000 Super High Roller a few days ago, is in third place with 1,098,000, while Jesse Lonis (1,012,000) and Phillip Latimer (1,011,000) round out the top five. PokerStars Team Pro Jen Shahade survived a late coin flip when her ace-king beat jacks as she ended the day with 928,000. Other top stacks include Michael Berk (887,000), Evan Sandberg (817,000), start-of-day chip leader Peter Mugar (728,000), Carl Shaw (711,000), and Shannon Shorr (706,000).
Further down the leaderboard are Jesse Yaginuma (663,000), TV producer Matthew Salsberg (300,000), last year’s 11th-place finisher Mike Vanier (285,000), 2013 world champion Ryan Riess (226,000), and Toby Lewis (223,000), while Jeremy Ausmus (107,000) finds himself near the bottom of the chip counts going into Day 4.
Day 3 began with 84 players remaining out of 738 entries. Martin Zamani (84th), James Carroll (78th), Kristen Foxen (77th), Joey Weissman (71st), Joe Serock (70th), EPT Prague champion Padraig O’Neill (69th), and Jeremy Becker (67th) were among the first to fall. Dan Smith busted in 63rd place shortly after Vanier made a big hero call on the river with a pair of sixes, while Kenny Hallaert (61st), Cherish Andrews (58th), Dylan Linde (57th), Bin Weng (56th), Eric Baldwin (55th), WSOP Main Event runner-up John Wasnock (49th), Patrick Leonard (47th), and Chino Rheem (43rd) soon followed to the payout desk.
Once 40 players were left to chase the title, the decision was made to stop play for the night with 46 minutes remaining in Level 19 with blinds of 5,000/10,000 and a 10,000 big blind ante. Everyone left has locked up $12,700, while the $653,050 is beginning to creep ever-closer for those who’ve made it this far.
PokerNews will return to Resorts World tomorrow following all the action on Day 4 as the field approaches the final table.
