We’re entering the home stretch in the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Los Angeles Main Event. A field of 81 players remains after two days of play and Jimmie Guinther leads the way with a stack of 894,000. Guinther and Travis Pearson hold a commanding lead over the survivors and are the only two players with over 800,000 in chips.
Every tournament has a Bubble Boy; the title in NAPT LA went to online poker stud Carter “ckingusc” King. The Carolina native moved his chips into the middle with 10-9 of spades on a flop of 8-6-5 with two of the suit for a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw. Micah Raskin had King covered and showed A-10 for ace-high, which held when King fired blanks on the turn and river. He was ousted in 105th place, as the top 104 players in NAPT LA made the money.
Former UB.com pro Michael Binger chipped up in earnest on Sunday. He held pocket fives and doubled up against the A-K belonging to Jason Lee to stack over 400,000 in chips. He finished the day by bagging up 474,000, good for the 10th largest tally at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles.
Women in Poker Hall of Famer Kathy Liebert was all-in with K-J of hearts just before the money bubble burst and picked up a caller with a wired pair of queens. No king fell and Liebert was bounced just short of the money. Also coming away empty-handed from Los Angeles was Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, whose A-J could not draw out on Bryn Kenney’s A-Q. Kenney was involved in a spitting incident with Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza in January and finished 28th in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.
George Lind, a member of Team PokerStars Online who goes by the handle “Jorj95,” sent Hafiz Khan to the rail on Sunday. Lind finished with the 17th largest stack in the room at 407,000. He’s fresh off recording four in the money finishes at the 2010 WSOP for over $10,000, but according to the Hendon Mob database, Lind has yet to notch a top nine finish in a major live event.
Adam Junglen’s pair of eights could not hold against Jonathan Gagnon-Villeneuve’s Big Slick, crippling Junglen’s stack. Five minutes later, Junglen was out the door after running into queens, but he picked up the $7,500 minimum payout. There are a bevy of online poker players remaining. Here’s how the top 10 in chips look after two days of play in NAPT LA:
1. Jimmie Guinther – 894,000
2. Travis Pearson – 835,000
3. Anh Van Nguyen – 614,000
4. Bryn Kenney – 586,000
5. Tom “hitthehole” Middleton – 519,000
6. Micah Raskin – 515,500
7. Tom Lee – 509,000
8. Nicholas Verkaik – 495,500
9. Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers – 481,000
10. Michael Binger – 474,000
Other players who survived two grueling days of poker include:
17. George Lind – 407,000
19. Phil Laak – 377,000
25. Rep Porter – 316,000
26. Matt Affleck – 307,500
34. Joe Tehan – 267,500
39. Eric “sheets” Haber – 246,500
51. Jason Mercier – 158,000
57. Gavin Griffin – 143,500
62. Tyler “puffinmypurp” Reiman – 125,500
65. Alex “assassinato” Fitzgerald – 119,500
73. Christina Lindley – 76,000
79. Tom “Kingsofcards” Marchese – 54,000
80. Shane “shaniac” Schleger – 49,000
When play picks back up today, the blinds will stand at 3,000-6,000 with an ante of 500. Nine tables of nine will issue their “Shuffle up and deal” command at 1:00pm PT today and the tournament will crown a champion on Wednesday. Keep it tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest NAPT coverage.
