On Sunday night, coverage of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Los Angeles Bounty Shootout aired on ESPN2. The $5,000 buy-in tournament’s first flight, which aired over the course of an hour, featured 11 bracelet winners along with “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander. ESPN poker announcers Lon McEachern and Norman Chad brought the event to life.
Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad scooped a 25,000-chip early pot at the expense of Ronnie Bardah after turning the nuts with 7-5 for a straight. Players received 25,000 in chips to start and each person carried a $1,000 bounty; the player who logged the most bounties after all was said and done would win a buy-in to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Bounty Shootout in January. In addition, players’ faces and home countries were displayed on the screen by ESPN when they were involved in a hand. Any player who bested their opening round table claimed $20,000 in cash. The feature table is winner-take-all for nearly $135,000.
The first elimination of the flight went to Titan Poker pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, who was defeated at the hands of Justin Bonomo. Then, November Niner Jason Senti’s pocket queens could not hold against Vanessa Selbst’s A-K for his tournament life. Elsewhere in the field, Scott Montgomery sent Greg Mueller packing with pocket kings against pocket eights and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi eliminated Selbst after scoring the nut flush.
Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier hit the rails at the hands of Bonomo, while Andrew “good2cu” Robl scored a double elimination. Robl turned two pair, called Obrestad’s shove with second pair on the river, and promptly sent Tom Marchese and the bracelet winner packing. Then, Greg DeBora was all-in with 8-5 against Bardah, but could not draw out on pocket threes.
Bonomo recorded his fourth bounty after eliminating online poker pro Andy Seth with queens against A-Q. Then, David Baker suffered the bad beat of the night after Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari sucked out on his pocket aces with A-Q. Esfandiari flopped one queen and rivered another to send the Texan packing. Then, Montgomery failed to win a coin flop with K-10 against Justin Young’s pocket eights and was sent home. Obrestad railed him during the hand and, after seeing her beau’s fate, she muttered, “We suck.” Montgomery responded, “Yes, indeed. We do suck.”
When the smoke cleared, Marchese, Mizrachi, Clint Coffee, Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, and Young advanced to the final table. The credits rolled for the first hour of coverage and this author hit the freezer for a big bowl of ice cream.
The second episode included the final four tables of the NAPT LA Bounty Shootout. At the feature table, Jean-Robert Bellande was the first to depart after running second pair into Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little’s top set. Out in the field, PokerStars front man Daniel Negreanu sported a beard, while UB.com pro Phil Hellmuth’s attire was curiously void of any patches for his home poker site. Instead, he promoted Aria and the WSOP Academy, leading many to believe that he may be on the outs with UB.com.
Brett Richey eliminated Barry Greenstein, but did not bring a copy of “Ace on the River” to sign. At the feature table, Hellmuth doubled up Shaun Deeb and then lamented, “I just didn’t want to fold. Phil, Phil, Phil.” Negreanu was ousted after his 9-7 of spades could not draw out on Phil Laak’s A-J, leaving Chad to comment, “He’s got time to shave the beard now.”
Speaking of Laak, the Unabomber Poker pro sent Alex Keating packing. Elsewhere, Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania relegated Victor Ramdin to the rail after spiking a pair of jacks on the river. Also finding help on the river was Matt “mcmatto” Affleck, who hit Broadway on the final card to sent Adam Junglen home before committing his chips with K-J on a flop of K-6-3. However, PokerStars pro David Williams woke up with pocket aces, which held when the board filled out 2-Q.
Williams sent “Nacho” Barbero home to win his table, while 2003 WSOP Main Event champ Chris Moneymaker was ousted after running pocket fours into Nick Binger’s pocket eights. Pat Pezzin triumphed over his table after busting Richey, and Charania also advanced to the finals.
Joining Williams, Charania, and Pezzin at the NAPT LA Bounty Shootout final table will be Kevin MacPhee, who took down EPT Berlin earlier this year, a tournament that included a high-stakes robbery. Nine players advanced to the finals in the 81-man field.
This Sunday at 9:00pm ET, catch the conclusion of the NAPT LA Bounty Shootout on ESPN2. At 10:00pm ET, action from the NAPT LA Main Event will air.
