Friday, 8th November 2024 18:24
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Check below for some of the stories and characters from this year’s NAPT Main Event.

You can also find hand for hand live updates over on PokerNews.

And, if you’re looking for Main Event results, updated as we get them, you can find them here.

STEVE MONOK AND A 2,200 MILE GOLD PASS

You could say bingo was Steve Monok’s game. He’s worked in the bingo business practically all his life. Everything from bingo calling, bingo managing, and not into the software side.

But, as he explains, it’s poker that allows him to be himself.

“Poker is a way for me to relax. Life is all about everyone else. Poker is about me.”

And so he and his wife think nothing of the three hour drive from his home in Sioux Ste-Marie to the nearest poker room in Michigan.

“I love live poker and talk to people, get their story. Work was too stressful, so my wife told me to play poker. I like playing poker to relax and forget about the real world for a while.”

Steve is an affable guy at the table, wearing a Vancouver Cannucks bowling shirt (it was a Sponge Bob one yesterday), a big grey beard, and an eager slouch.   

It’s for this reason the online game isn’t usually his first option. He’s a talker. But after playing live a few times and he checked out PokerStars, noticed he could win his way to an NAPT event and gave it a shot.

He started with a daily free roll. Things went well. In fact, when he won a step four he thought he’d won his seat, only to realise there was a fifth step.

Steve was calm about it. “Okay let’s do this all over again!”

With 36 players taking part Steve knew needed to finish in the top three, although fourth place was worth $5,000. Not a bad consolation.

Four hours later things were getting tense.

“I have past heart issues,” he explained, “so I had my puffer our for my nitro just in case!”

Then it was done.

“Boom it’s over. Okay I won. Wow. Shit.”

With his package secured he and his wife made plans for the trip, in their case a 2,200 mile drive from Ontario to Nevada. You get the idea this man will drive any distance for a decent game of poker.

But then this is the biggest poker game he’s ever played. And with family, including his grandson, on their way to be here, there’s even more reason to make the most of it.

Bingo.

FAMILY, HARD WORK AND POKER. IN THAT ORDER FOR GOLD PASS WINNER BILL MCLAY

Bill McLay was about ten years old when his grandmother taught him to play poker. He’s been in love with the game ever since.

She knew he had a knack for it and before long was taking him to her weekly home.

“At first, I’m sure they were just humoring me, allowing me at the table,” says Bill, now 38. “That is, until I started winning hands and taking down pots. We played games like 7-card stud, 5-card draw, Follow the Queen and Pass the Ace. I fell in love with the challenges that these games presented, and years later began playing Holdem as well. 

“And then I was at just the right age for the poker, boom.”

Bill had some small but significant wins in that time. He played a lot online and at a local casino.

“I really fell in love with it. But that’s around when I had to make the decision and career or try to push it with poker.”

There were good reasons for his decision, a choice of pragmatism or idealism, the head or the heart.

He chose head.

A TOUGH START

Growing up in Northeast Pennsylvania had been hard. Bill’s father had broken his back and neck aged just 30, leaving him disabled, and his mother to raise three boys on a nurse’s salary.

“We we’re not well off” says Bill. “The power was turned off sometimes. It was tough.”

Gold Pass winner Bill McLay

But it did mean he was raised in a family that put great emphasis on education and work ethic. Head might rule his decisions, but everything else was taken to heart.

“I thought long and hard what is the job that you could do? That has good security, that pays well. Pharmacy hit the table and we all agreed.”

His plan was in place. But this too brought along its own challenges.

ANOTHER SET BACK

“After a brief time in college, I realized that I could not yet afford it. I had no choice but to leave school and go to work.”

A set back like this would prompt some to call time on their plan. But Bill simply postponed it. He put the books away and found jobs working as a lumberjack and in construction. Anything to make money.

“I knew that I was working to eventually reach certain goals,” he says. It proved the all-important ingredient.  

A FAMILY DECISION

You might have noticed his decision to study pharmacy which he discussed with his family was described as something “we” decided. That wasn’t a typo.

Like that decision, this too was a family one.

“During my years at graduate school, my two brothers worked to ensure that the lights stayed on. My goal was always to return the favor after graduation, and I’m proud to say that it worked out.”

It had been a challenge picking up the books again and switching back the classroom. But eight years later than planned Bill had his Doctor of Pharmacy degree. He hasn’t looked back.

REACHING HIS GOAL

With his new qualification, and job, he was able to buy a home and co-sign his brothers’ student loans. It was now their turn to attend graduate school.

“It has been a very long road, and hard work, but reaching my education goals, and providing opportunities for my brothers were very important milestones for me.”

It also allowed poker to return to his life. With his job came stability, a degree of financial security, and time to play.

“The Gold Pass that I won came from the Path the NAPT steps. I made it through each satellite, starting at Step one, and made it to the silver pass twice, but did not make the cut.

“My third run started at Step three, and I was able to win my way to the Silver Pass once again, and this time I was successful. It was an exciting ride, inching myself closer to the final with each win.” 

A FAMILY MATTER

In keeping with everything else in his life, family were not far away. Right behind him in fact.

“My brothers and father were seated behind me during nearly the entire Silver Pass tournament,” he says. “There were moments of excitement and fear every time I was committed to a big hand, but in the end, when the winners were announced, we all jumped up in celebration.

“Thankfully, they kept their backseat driving to a minimum, letting me play my game. It always fascinates me that so many different styles of poker player can emerge from the same household.”

That love of poker he’d inherited from his grandmother was alive and well.

“I have since told several friends and family and they are so excited for the opportunity, with many stating, “it’s about time,” meaning that they expected a big win was coming at some point in my poker journey.”

SAME FAMILY SAME DREAM

Bill’s mother passed away in 2017, but the family are still as close as they ever were.

“A long time ago, my brothers, my family, we all decided to stick together to live together. It’s a bit odd, I guess nowadays to see that. It’s just how we’ve always been, it’s very tight and I grew up poor. So, you know, that might be part of it. We always struggled together.”

Bill still has the dream of reaching a final table, but the stability in his life, and that of his family, is what matters more.

“Getting a major title would be incredible”, he says. “And the validation of my poker efforts many years in the making. I am so thankful to PokerStars for this opportunity, and really hope to see myself at the final table of the NAPT main event this November.

Ironically his brothers have their own exams to sit, being 18 months away from graduating, meaning Bill made the trip to Las Vegas alone this time. But they’re with him in other ways for sure.

“I believe very strongly that having patience and a strong work ethic can get you far in life, and that mentality also translates well into poker. If you are persistent, and put in the time, you can be successful in the long run.” 

How Chris Jennings used poker to transform his life

The effort to learn everything he could about poker soon started paying off for Chris Jennings. Nothing big at first but three figure wins grew to four figures. He won the Big $3.30. Then came second in the Big $27.50. These were landmark results for a new player slowly moving up in stakes.

“That’s the great thing about PokerStars, especially back in 2008,” he said. “There was a lot of opportunity to win into things that were ‘dreams come true’ for zero dollars. So, just being able to play for nothing at all, but learning the game, reading books, honing my skills, and then moving up into low stakes buy-ins and learning all the nuance to them and getting higher and Higher, kind of thing. Because at every level it’s so different.”

HOW TO FIT POKER INTO REAL LIFE

But as Chris’s passion for poker continued to grow, the real world brought him down to earth.

Working as a supervisor at a local arena, he found his job taking up more of his time, leaving little left for anything else. Including poker.

“There was actually a time when myself and my friends were going on a poker trip. And I had to not go because work came up. It was getting in the way of my life and my happiness.”

Chris Jennings

Chris knew something had to change. It wasn’t that he hated where he worked, and he loved the people. But supervisor wasn’t for him.

And after trying and failing to get his old job back he came up with a solution. It was ambitious as it was difficult. But it was aspirational. It ticked all the boxes Chris needed. It was challenging. It would push him to the limits of his ability. And, if it worked, would give him the freedom he desperately craved.

“I made it my goal to win a hundred thousand dollars in a single poker tournament and step down for my job,” he says.

COMMITTING TO A BIG GOAL, TOO BIG?

Chris set about telling people too. Including work colleagues.  Declarations like this can backfire (and bring embarrassment and public failure with it). But sometimes they provide motivation to succeed.

Either way this was a big deal. All Chris needed was an event to win. He switched on PokerStars. WCOOP was just around the corner.

“As far as the World Championship of Online Poker, that’s something I always wanted to play,” he said.

He started on the first Sunday of that year’s series, playing satellites to win seats his bankroll couldn’t reach.

“I played two events that day, and the third one was a Sunday million, special edition.”

These Special Edition events were big then and are still big. Tens of thousands of players, and millions of dollars at stake. A final table finish in an event this size usually means at least a six figure pay day. But getting that far is not easy.

 “I had never made a day two in anything,” says Chris, who found himself running deeper than he’d ever gone before. “I think we played 12 hours on the first day and then another eight hours on the next day.”

 It’s a long stretch, played almost to exhaustion. But you only play for that long when you go deep. Very deep.

Of the 11,634 players who started, Chris would finish fourth. His prize money was $103,645. He’d done it. He’d topped the goal he’d set himself.

“It was absolutely life changing for me in more ways than one,” says Chris.

THE MOMENT HE HAD TO ACT 

“I went back into my boss’s office and I said, look I need just some time off, I said, ‘I just won 100 Grand. I shouldn’t feel like this.’ And that’s when he sent me into the manager’s office and to ask for this unpaid time off.”

This was a new manager. And while he couldn’t grant the request for unpaid leave, he was at least curious about the reasons.

“I explained to him, ‘I took this job, I really don’t like it. I’ve been trying to step down’. And right then and there in the office, he said, okay, no problem. You get your old job back.

 WCOOP had been life-changing money. This was now a dream come true.

LIVING THE DREAM LIFESTYLE

Chris still has the same job he got back some 15 years ago now.

“I’ve been so happy ever since. I’ve been able to play the amount of poker I want to play.”

In the winter he installs and paints the ice on the local rinks, even driving the Zamboni. In summer he does everything from garbage removal to maintenance.

We’re not talking glamourous work. But it’s a job that allows him to lead the life he wants.

“It’s a great Job and I spend lots of time in the winter waiving to little boys and girls and honking the horn for them when driving around on the Zamboni. When it comes to children I seem to be a fan favourite. Everybody loves the Zamboni driver!”

And while that WCOOP result was more than 15 years ago he’s still deeply passionate about the game.

“I discovered some great players in Ontario and reached out to them for some coaching. It had always been a dream of mine to be as good as I could possibly be. I love the game and learning about the game itself.”

That led Chris to Power Path, where he turned a bronze pass into a Gold Pass and a seat in the NAPT main event.

KEEPING POKER IN PERSPECTIVE 

“I’ve had like quite a bit of lifetime earnings, often making more than what I make in my job. And a lot of people ask, why don’t you do this for a living? And it’s like, cuz it’s stressful! I like to come and go as I please. You know what I mean. I love the stress of Poker. It’s a totally different stress!

Chris got his shift done at the weekend then flew into Las Vegas.

“It’s been wonderful to get some free time to be able to do that and be able to make those dreams come true.”

He still gets to drive a Zamboni and wave at kids. And who knows if that seven-figure score, beating all others, is far away.

Looking across the field

Scott Haze is another Gold Pass winner in the Main Event field today. Unlike Bradley Mickelson who we wrote about earlier, Scott’s problem is not a lack of experience. It’s the experience of the players he’s up against.

At his table is Vanessa Kade is in seat one. Matt Affleck is in seat three. And that’s Griffin Benger in seat five.

Here’s a glimpse of some of the rest of the Main Event field on Day 1A.

Maria Konnikova

David Kaye

Rory Jennings

Barny Boatman

Terror on the inside, calm and collected on the outside

We wrote last week about Bradley Mickelson’s journey to Las Vegas, courtesy of Fintan Hand and his entire Twitch community. It’s a story well worth getting familiar with. Just in case he pulls off the impossible.

To give the short version Bradley had, before today, never played a single hand of live poker. Never. Around here that’s the kind of thing people think is hard to believe.

He’d handled chips, he said, but not in a home game or anything like that. He owns some, enough to fidget with while working from home.

This is all very much new ground.

There’s a cardroom near to where he lives in South Florida, but reality always just got in the way. Either in the form of Covid, or Hurricane Ian, which tore through his town leaving devastation everywhere. With his neighbours picking up the pieces of their lives it just didn’t seem right to go play cards.

Bradley Mickelson still working on his poker face…

Flash forward two years and Bradley is in the Main Event, supported by Fintan Hand and his entire Twitch community.

He admitted to some basic errors (a bet reduced to a call), the type we’ve all made, albeit at lower stakes. It might not be his last one either. But with each hand that experience builds up.

You wouldn’t know he was a ball of nerves who had been worried about this moment all week. In that regard things are going fine. On the outside at least.

Main Event Day

Rooms with no windows (or in our case with curtains closed) suit poker tournaments perfectly.

There should be no interference from the outside world. No hint of time passing or the matters of the day. Our world is neatly confined within these four walls. Poker tables, chairs, dealer buttons. Plus, hundreds of poker players from around the country and the world speaking the language of cards and chips.

And from today you have a ring side seat for the return of the NAPT Las Vegas Main Event. It’s bigger this year, which we hope will mean better. And the proof will reveal itself over the next six days.

As always, the PokerStars Blog will feature stories, vignettes, and highlights along the way. For the hand for hand detail head over to PokerNews. They’ll be marching back and forth all day flagging up the big hands, some of the small hands, and all the scores at the close of play in something like 12 hours from now.

Between now and then you can catch up on some of the stories already started on this road to an NAPT champion. More than 100 Gold Pass winners are in town, some experiencing Las Vegas for the first time. Some experiencing live poker for the first time. We’re here to see what happens.

EXCITING PLAYER ACTIVITIES AWAY FROM THE TABLE

Among the highlights of the event is the PokerStars Players Party taking place on Thursday 7, with all participants and their guests invited to join PokerStars ambassadors and other players for a night of entertainment to celebrate the NAPT.

Other activities to get involved in away from the tables include:

Monday 4: Gold Pass Welcome Event at Jalisco Underground – A welcome night for Gold Pass winners to come together with PokerStars ambassadors to celebrate the beginning of the NAPT.

Wednesday 6: Las Vegas Sphere – An opportunity for players to visit the iconic Sphere.

Thursday 7: PokerStars Players Party – Celebrate the NAPT at Zouk Empire room.

Friday 8: Go Karting – Race other players Las Vegas Mini Grand Prix.

Saturday 9: Karaoke – Sing the night away at Zouk Red Tail.

Monday 4 – Tuesday 12: Strat Tower – Collect tickets from the information desk and visit the Strat Tower in your free time to see Las Vegas from high in the sky.

The PokerStars Players lounge will be open for players to enjoy throughout the event. Visit the PokerStars Travel desk for more information and to sign up for activities.

But for now, let’s cover the key info:

NAPT LAS VEGAS 2024 KEY INFO

Venue: Resorts World, Las Vegas

Dates: November 1 – 10, 2024

Main Event: $5,300 buy-in, November 5 – 10

“Last year, the NAPT smashed all expectations, so this year, we’re going even bigger,” said Steve Preiss, VP of PokerStars North America. “With a premier partner like Resorts World Las Vegas, we’re stepping up our game: bigger tournaments, buy-ins, and player-focused events.”

Leon Wheeler, Director of Poker Operations at Resorts World Las Vegas, added: “Resorts World Las Vegas is thrilled to announce the highly anticipated return of PokerStars and the NAPT this November. After last year’s tremendous success, we are eager to capitalize on that momentum and host an even more spectacular festival in 2024.”

Check out the full schedule here. But the highlights are below.

• NAPT Mystery Bounty: November 1-4 – $550 / $300,000 GTD

• NAPT Super High Roller: November 4-6 – $25,000

• NAPT Main Event: November 5-10 – $5,300 / $3,000,000 GTD

• Women’s Event: November 5 – $330 / $30,000 GTD

• NAPT High Roller: November 8-10 – $10,300

• NAPT Cup: November 8-10 – $550 / $300,000 GTD

This year will see the addition of several co-branded events too, adding even more excitement to the schedule.

• RunGood Open – November 4 – $1,100 / $400,000 GTD – second largest GTD of the festival

• Cardplayer Lifestyle H.E.R.O.S. – November 7 – $550

• Cardplayer Lifestyle 8-Game – November 8 $5,300

• Cardplayer Lifestyle 8-Game – November 9 – $550

BIG GAME RETURNS TO NAPT LAS VEGAS

The Big Game on Tour – which was revived in 2023 after a 12-year hiatus – will also be back for a brand new season at NAPT Las Vegas 2024 and that means it’s time to find some new Loose Cannons. 

There will be qualifiers running throughout the NAPT, and the winners will make it through to the audition process.

But Las Vegas Gold Pass winners? They’re guaranteed an audition, so try your best to win one.

Learn more here.

MIXED GAME FESTIVAL

mixed game festival

Sometimes two cards and one game just aren’t enough.

That’s why PokerStars is excited to announce that the beloved Cardplayer Lifestyle Mixed Game Festival will return to NAPT Las Vegas in November for its biggest and best run yet.

The festival takes place at Resorts World Las Vegas from November 3-7, running alongside NAPT Las Vegas (November 1-10), giving players even more choice and value. There will be three co-branded mixed game tournaments on the schedule, as well as the hallmark of the festivities: low-stakes dealer’s choice cash games.

Find out more here.

PACKAGE ADDED TO NAPT LAS VEGAS WOMEN’S EVENT

The winner of the Women’s Event at the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Las Vegas will now find themselves hopping on a plane to London as a Women’s Winter Festival package has been added to the prize pool.

The $330 buy-in Women’s Event takes place at Resorts World Las Vegas on Tuesday, November 5th, with $30K already guaranteed in the prize pool. But along with the prize money, the winner will also receive a full package to London including:

  • Entry to the Women’s Winter Festival Main Event (£440 buy-in, £100K Gtd)
  • Economy return flights from US to London
  • Accommodation at the Z Hotel on Tottenham Court Road (November 21-25)
  • Entry to the Women’s Closer freeroll which offers a full package to EPT Prague

For more details on the Women’s Winter Festival head to our coverage hub.

MEET THE GOLD PASS WINNERS

las vegas napt

The iconic North America Poker Tour (NAPT) is heading back to Las Vegas from November 1 – 10, 2024, following a successful return last year.

Some of the players gearing up for the trip will live their dreams thanks to winning a Gold Pass worth $10K on PokerStars. Here, we’re going to meet as many of them as we can so we can root for them in the $5,300 Main Event.

Meet the NAPT Las Vegas Gold Pass winners.

WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR?

RELIVE THIS EVENT THROUGH OUR COVERAGE HUB

It had been a long wait, but in November 2023, we brought everything back to poker’s spiritual home for a gold-tinted month. It was the first major live poker festival in Vegas under the PokerStars banner in 12 years.

NAPT Las Vegas 2023 was an incredible festival with huge events, fantastic activities away from the tables, and countless fascinating stories from qualifiers and pros alike.

It was Sami Bechahed — a five-year poker pro from Costa Mesa, California — who took down the $1,650 Main Event, earning his fourth six-figure score.

Sami Bechahed with the trophy he earned winning the NAPT Las Vegas Main Event in 2023

A terrific win for Sami Bechahed

1st. Sami Bechahed (United States) $268,945
2nd. Jonathan Borenstein (United States) $168,175
3rd. David Coleman (United States) $120,130
4th. Ping Liu (United States) $92,410
5th. Sergio Aido (Spain) $71,080
6th. Nick Schulman (United States) $54,680
7th. Sandeep Pallampati (United States) $42,060

Meanwhile it was Samuel Laskowitz from New York took down the $5,300 buy-in North American Poker Tour High Roller to close things out. Laskowitz picked up $180,850 and lifted the trophy after defeating a field of 150 entries.

Samuel Laskowitz holding aloft the trophy he won at a PokerStars live event

NAPT LAS VEGAS HIGH ROLLER RESULTS

1st – Samuel Laskowitz, USA, $180,850
2nd – Shannon Shorr, USA, $113,030
3rd – Jesse Lonis, USA, $80,740
4th – John Riordan, USA, $62,105
5th – John Andress, USA, $47,770
6th – Alexander Condon, USA, $36,745

Read more about last year’s festival here.

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