On Monday night, the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) debuted on ESPN2 with the opening round of the Venetian High Roller Bounty Shootout. The unique tournament featured a field of 49 of the game’s best spread over seven tables.
Although the theme music and b-roll were different than the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) broadcasts on ESPN, the NAPT featured the same announcing team we’ve come to love, Lon McEachern and Norman Chad. In a stark change from other ESPN poker broadcasts, a player’s face and country flag appeared next to their bets and images on the screen denoted whether players were in the small blind, big blind, or on the button. Every player who won their table would take home $75,000. In addition, each player carried a $5,000 bounty; a $100,000 cash bonus would be awarded to the person who recorded the most number of knockouts.
UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth and DoylesRoom’s Hoyt Corkins headlined the feature table during the first episode, which aired at 9:00pm ET and chronicled three Round 1 tables. Hellmuth’s radar was off early and often, as he folded A-K face up against European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie in the first hand shown. At Table 2, Scott Seiver doubled up at the expense of Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari. Seiver later busted Barry Greenstein after coming out on the winning end of a race with A-K against queens.
Seiver sent Esfandiari packing to record his second bounty, while Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka ousted Vanessa Rousso to pick up his second bounty. Seiver then sent high-stakes cash game pro Chau Giang and Brian “tsarrast” Rast home the same hand after flopping an ace against Giang’s pocket kings and Rast’s pocket nines. Following the rare double knockout, Seiver was up to four bounties.
Corkins eliminated 2004 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer with A-5 against Raymer’s Q-6. Raymer promptly signed over a fossil to Corkins, who won the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Southern Poker Championship in January. Shortly thereafter, another Main Event winner, Joe Hachem, was sidelined at the hands of Jennifer Tilly, who found a flush with A-5 of clubs against Hachem’s pocket fives. Back at the feature table, Hellmuth was eliminated and exited quietly, leaving Chad to comment, “I don’t know if it’s meditation or medication, but a nice, gracious, sedated Hellmuth exit.”
Following his elimination of Betfair pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, Seiver had busted his entire table and picked up all six bounties. Jaka then eliminated 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Annie Duke to take down his table and four bounties. Also advancing to the final table was Corkins, who doubled up against Duthie with A-2 of diamonds against A-Q before putting the nail in the coffin with A-9 against Duthie’s A-6. This time, the better ace held and Corkins advanced.
The second one-hour episode profiled the remaining four first round tables. Daniel Negreanu headlined the feature table, where his giddiness ultimately sent him home as its first casualty at the hands of Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond. Negreanu’s pocket eights could not hold against Galfond’s pocket threes after Galfond found a set on the flop. Elsewhere, Joe Cassidy picked up his second bounty by eliminating Bodog pro David Williams.
2003 WSOP Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker made a royal flush on the river against Jason Mercier. Moneymaker walked away from the table every time his chips were at risk, causing Chad to yell “Take it like a man” on multiple occasions. Victory Poker pro Lee Markholt also scored a double elimination, sending John “World” Hennigan and new DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis to the rails in the same hand.
“Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok was bumped from the NAPT Venetian High Roller Bounty Shootout when his A-3 fell short of Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo’s wired pair of tens. Then, Cassidy won his table and collected four bounties. Elsewhere, Peter Eastgate was all-in holding K-Q against Isaac Haxton’s 9-8 of diamonds. The flop of 6-7-10 gave Haxton the nuts and a 97% chance of winning the hand. However, a running A-J gave Eastgate Broadway and the 2008 WSOP Main Event champion doubled up. Eastgate promptly busted Haxton to win his table and move on to the finale.
Brett Richey sent Markholt packing with pocket kings against pocket eights to win his table and three bounties, while Ashton Griffin outlasted Moneymaker to take down the feature table after collecting two bounties. The final table of the NAPT Venetian High Roller Bounty Shootout features Seiver, Cassidy, Griffin, Jaka, Corkins, Richey, and Eastgate.
The final table will air next Monday, April 26th, at 9:00pm ET on ESPN2, followed by action from the NAPT Venetian Main Event at 10:00pm ET.
