The second of two starting days in the PokerStars North American Poker Tour’s (NAPT) Los Angeles stop is in the books and Kim Fredericksen leads the survivors of Day 1B with a stack of 237,000. The final field size was 701 players, meaning that a top prize of $725,000 will be awarded.
One of the key pots of Day 1B on Saturday belonged to former UB.com pro Michael Binger, who held J-10 on a flop of 7-8-9 for the nuts. His opponents held pocket eights for middle set and 6-5 for the sucker end of the straight and Binger’s hand held to balloon up the leaderboard at the Bicycle Casino event. All told, he amassed the 13th largest Day 1B stack at 141,800.
Members of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine were out in full force over the weekend. On Friday, Soi Nguyen and Matt Jarvis failed to survive Day 1A. Yesterday, Michael Mizrachi and John Dolan were also cast away. The last November Niner standing in NAPT LA was Jason Senti, who finished seventh in the $10,000 buy-in WSOP Main Event last week and was ousted late on Day 1B. None made Day 2 in Los Angeles.
Freedy Deeb was eliminated on Day 1B in a set-over-set situation. Also heading to the exit was PokerStars pro David Williams, whose A-K could not withstand A-Q. The flop came K-Q-5, keeping the former Bodog front man out in front, but another queen on the turn improved his opponent to trips. His opponent apologized for applying the bad beat and a disappointed Williams responded, “I don’t think you’re sorry, but you don’t have to be. You don’t have to apologize. We’re here to win.”
Jamie “thecronic420” Rosen sent Victor Ramdin away after flopping a boat with A-10 on a board of A-A-10. Ramdin held the case ace for trips and was promptly dispatched. Rosen bagged up nearly 90,000 chips after Day 1B, good for the 39th largest tally in the room.
Victory Poker pro Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, a former World Poker Tour (WPT) Player of the Year, hit the rail at The Bike on Saturday after his A-J was well behind another player’s J-10 on a flop of J-10-3. No ace fell on the turn or river and Little came up empty-handed. He is fresh off a win in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em preliminary tournament during the Festa al Lago last month for $152,000.
As you might expect from a tournament sponsored by the world’s largest online poker site, there are a wealth of young internet hot shots remaining. Here’s how the top 10 looked at the end of Day 1B:
1. Kim Frederiksen – 237,000
2. Hafiz “hafizzle” Khan – 210,200
3. Blake Kelso – 207,500
4. David “Blue Knight4” Sesso – 200,000
5. Michael Kamran – 180,000
6. Cezary Swiech – 175,100
7. Getty Mattingsley – 173,800
8. Matthew Schulte – 167,200
9. Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers – 151,400
10. John Smith – 151,200
Other players who remain and own top 50 chip stacks after Day 1B include:
13. Michael Binger – 141,800
16. Eric “sheets” Haber – 137,000
19. Tom “Kingsofcards” Marchese – 134,000
35. Brett Richey – 94,900
43. Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul – 84,300
46. Kathy Liebert – 81,300
48. Joe Cada – 78,900
The blinds stood at 500-1,000 when play concluded on Days 1A and 1B. Today’s action kicked off at 1:00pm PT and the field will slowly work toward the money bubble, which will burst when 104 players remain. The minimum payout in the $5,000 buy-in contest is $7,500 and the top six will walk away with six-figures.