On Tuesday night, Poker News Daily received an e-mail from PokerStars officials that read, “Please be advised that the final table of the NAPT Los Angeles Main Event has been relocated to the Crystal Casino and Hotel. The final table is being filmed for broadcast on ESPN2. The cards will be in the air at 2:00pm PT. All accredited NAPT Los Angeles media are invited to attend.” Today, the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Los Angeles Main Event will crown a champion at the Compton casino.
The abrupt change in venue appears to be due to an agreement between the Bicycle Casino and the World Poker Tour (WPT) about television broadcasts; The Bike has hosted the event to this point. Christopher DeMaci has a stranglehold on the final table field, as his stack of nearly 6.3 million is well ahead of Jason Mercier’s second place tally of 3.8 million. The blinds stand at 20,000-40,000 with an ante of 2,000, meaning that DeMaci and Mercier have 157 and 95 big blinds, respectively.
Alan Myerson, the short stack in the room, was the Final Table Bubble Boy in Los Angeles. His eventful last hand saw Myerson nearly crack the pocket aces of Ray Henson with A-3. The flop of 6-2-4 gave Myerson a gutshot straight draw to a five, which promptly hit on the turn. However, the card also gave Henson the nut flush draw and another heart on the river eliminated Myerson in ninth place for $47,000.
Former chip leader Jimmie Guinther was eliminated in 10th place from NAPT LA. Guinther was all-in before the flop with pocket eights and facing the A-K of Mercier. Guinther was safe through the flop, but an ace on the turn propelled Mercier, a PokerStars sponsored pro, out in front. The river was a seven and Guinther departed.
Team PokerStars Online’s George “Jorj95” Lind was bumped in 12th place after running A-5 of diamonds into Joe Tehan’s A-K. Suffering a similar fate was Matt Affleck, whose A-2 could not draw out on DeMaci’s A-10 in his final hand. Affleck took 15th in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event after being eliminated when Jonathan Duhamel spiked a gutshot straight draw with one card to come. Amazingly, Affleck, who hails from Seattle, took 80th in the 2009 running of the Main Event and owns $580,000 in career WSOP earnings.
Also vying for the NAPT LA title on Wednesday will be former UB.com pro Michael Binger. He’ll enter as the sixth largest stack at 1.6 million and fueled his final table run on Tuesday by dispatching Carlos Watanabe in 15th place. Binger came out on the winning end of a race with A-J against pocket sixes by flopping two pair.
Here’s how the field stacks up entering the televised finale of NAPT LA:
1. Christopher Demaci – 6,283,000
2. Jason Mercier – 3,800,000
3. Ray Henson – 3,268,000
4. Jake Toole – 1,975,000
5. Joe Tehan – 1,907,000
6. Michael Binger – 1,670,000
7. Anh Van Nguyen – 1,058,000
8. Al Grimes – 982,000
Every player remaining is assured a payout of at least $60,000, with a top prize of $725,000 up for grabs. Tuesday saw the field trimmed from 19 players to eight. Here were those who cashed yesterday:
9. Alan Myerson – $47,000
10. Jimmie Guinther – $47,000
11. Joseph Melancon – $37,000
12. George “Jorj95” Lind – $37,000
13. Matt “mcmatto” Affleck – $27,000
14. Tony “D1rtyR1v3r” Nardi – $27,000
15. Carlos Watanabe – $21,000
16. Thomas Young – $21,000
17. Carl Beliveau – $18,000
18. Jonathan Gagnon-Villenueve – $18,000
19. Micah Raskin, $18,000
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from NAPT LA.
