Scott Seiver stormed through the competition on Day 1 of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) $25,000 High-Roller Bounty Shootout at the Venetian. Seiver ousted all six opponents at his starting table to move on to Day 2.
Seiver collected a $5,000 bounty for each player knocked out, or $30,000 total. In addition, his appearance at Thursday’s final table in the $25,000 buy-in event is worth another $75,000. All told, he’s a very happy camper heading into the finale, which will air as part of ESPN2’s coverage of the NAPT beginning in April. Seiver didn’t knock out a bunch of amateurs, either. Instead, he defeated Betfair pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi heads-up. Also a victim of Seiver’s bloodbath was Season 7 World Poker Tour (WPT) Festa al Lago winner Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier.
Seiver sent Team PokerStars Pro member and “High Stakes Poker” regular Barry Greenstein to the rails first, followed by Victory Poker front man Antonio Esfandiari, cash game specialist Chau Giang, and online poker pro Brian “tsarrast” Rast. Seiver won his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in 2008, when he took down a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event for $755,000.
Joe Cassidy defeated Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo heads-up at Table 1 to move on to Thursday’s finale. Cassidy knocked out four of his six opponents, including reigning WPT Championship winner Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, Bodog poker pro David Williams, and Unabomber Poker namesake Phil Laak. Cassidy finished 13th in the inaugural $50,000 HORSE Championship during the 2006 WSOP for $137,000. Also eliminated from Table 1 were “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok and Tommy Vedes.
2008 WSOP Main Event champ Peter Eastgate emerged victorious from Table 2. Eastgate defeated fellow young gun Isaac Haxton heads-up to collect his $5,000 bounty. Haxton sent Alec “traheho” Torelli and poker bad boy Tony G packing in third and fourth places, respectively, to give Eastgate a run for his money. The table also featured James Calderaro, Italian stud Dario Minieri, and WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic winner Daniel Alaei.
Ashton Griffin outlasted 2003 WSOP Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker at Table 3 to advance. Moneymaker eliminated fellow Main Event champion Joe Cada along with Hasan Habib and Jason Mercier before Griffin took out the former Tennessee accountant. Griffin finished 12th in the 2009 WSOP Europe £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament for £15,000.
Over at Table 4, Brett Richey defeated three consecutive players down the stretch for the win, including Victory Poker’s Lee Markholt. Richey also sent Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond home in third place and Andrew “good2cu” Robl out in fourth. Markholt, meanwhile, eliminated rumored new DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Alex “AJKHoosier1” Kamberis and poker veteran John “World” Hennigan.
An epic battle between Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka and UB.com’s Annie Duke unfolded at Table 5, with the former finally reigning supreme. Jaka busted four players from his table, including Jennifer Tilly, Vanessa Rousso, and 2006 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event winner J.C. Tran. Oddly enough, only three women competed in the 49-player event; all of them were seated at the same table and eliminated by Jaka. You can check out Annie Duke’s evaluation of Jaka’s poker game.
Finally, DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins, fresh off of taking down the WPT Southern Poker Championship in Biloxi, bested European Poker Tour (EPT) founder John Duthie at Table 7 to move on to the finale. Corkins amassed five bounties in the process, including Adam Richardson, Hevad “RaiNKhaN” Khan, 2004 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer, and Steven Paul-Ambrose (who now goes as Steven Paul).
PokerStars is awarding $100,000 to the player with the most number of bounties when the tournament concludes. As it currently stands, Seiver leads the way with six and Corkins has five. Cassidy and Jaka each own four bounties.
The tournament resumes at Noon PT on Thursday, as all eyes today are focused on the Main Event of the NAPT Venetian. The winner of the Bounty Shootout will earn $460,000 in addition to the $75,000 reward for making the final table.
