On Monday, the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Mohegan Sun High-Roller Bounty Shootout took center stage on ESPN2. The first round of action was shown, with table winners receiving up to $60,000. In addition, every entrant had a $5,000 bounty on his head. The contestant who racks up the most number of bounties receives entry into the next NAPT Bounty Shootout, which is still to be determined.
The field of 35 players featured nine Canadians, among them Team PokerStars Pro front man Daniel Negreanu, who was seated at the feature table. In the outer portions of the Uncasville casino’s poker room, Matt Glantz doubled up through Chau Giang after making a flush on the river. Giang was crippled in the hand and eliminated shortly thereafter. Then, NAPT Venetian Main Event runner-up Sam Stein doubled up through Brian Powell after making two pair on the river to crack Powell’s aces.
The first elimination of the NAPT Mohegan Sun Bounty Shootout was Venetian Main Event winner Tom Marchese, who ran A-K into Luis Vazquez’s pocket aces. Then, Vazquez sent Curt Kohlberg packing to record his second $5,000 bounty. After taking hits to his chip stack early on, Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka doubled at the expense of Negreanu with A-Q against K-8 suited. Negreanu screamed “Jaka, Jaka, Jaka” multiple times throughout the episode to remind everyone of who his tablemate was.
Shawn Buchanan sent Marcello de Grosso packing. Then, Jaka doubled up again, this time at the expense of World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Brian Lemke. Elsewhere, Jason Mercier eliminated Canadian Anh Van Nguyen to a chorus of chants by ESPN poker commentator Norman Chad of “USA! USA! USA!” Meanwhile, 2004 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer was sent packing despite flopping two pair and DoylesRoom pro Hoyt Corkins suffered a similar fate.
Stein continued his impressive run, busting William Reynolds to record his second bounty. Then, Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, who donned a Titan Poker patch, was eliminated. Mizzi was formerly a card-carrying member of Team Betfair, but like Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, appears to have found a new home. Buchanan sent Joe Cassidy to the rails with K-Q against Cassidy’s A-2 of diamonds after spiking a king on the river and Stein busted Barry Greenstein to rack up his third bounty and advance to the final table.
In the final elimination of the first of two one-hour episodes, Jaka busted Joe Gibbons with J-3 after flopping two pair and avoiding Gibbons’ flush draws on the turn and river. The second episode began with the Illinois native scooping pots with 5-3 and 7-6, the latter of which busted Lemke, who held A-Q. Jaka flopped trips and made a full house on the river to continue his domination of the feature table.
Jaka sent Negreanu home with J-6 against A-9 after flopping two pair and making a full house by the time all was said and done. Then, Mercier reached the final table by virtue of picking up pocket aces and sending Eli Berg home. Berg held just 9-7 in the hand and Mercier scooped his third bounty. Jaka dispatched of amateur Perry Horwich to join Mercier at the finale, which will air next Monday on ESPN2. In Horwich’s final hand, Jaka’s J-3 withstood A-J after Jaka flopped bottom pair.
Buchanan sent Steve Sung packing to pick up his fourth bounty. Back at the feature table, Glantz and Scott Seiver battled for the last spot in the final table. Seiver pushed all-in with pocket queens on a board of 8-2-8-5 and Glantz made the call with 10-8 for trips. The river was a three and Glantz moved on.
The final table will air next Monday at 10:00pm ET on ESPN2. The six-handed finale features Glantz, Stein, Buchanan, Mercier, Jaka, and Vazquez, who will actually begin with fewer chips since his first round table was played five-handed instead of six-handed.