On Monday night, the final tables of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian High Roller Bounty Shootout and Main Event aired on ESPN2. The latter included a blowup of epic proportions.
The first hour of coverage featured the seven-handed final table of the Bounty Shootout. ESPN commentator Lon McEachern previewed the field: “A Main Event champion, a poker superstar, and some of the greatest online players in the world.” The winner-take-all tournament’s finale also featured $5,000 bounties and a $100,000 bonus to the player who served up the most eliminations.
NAPT on ESPN coverage features the faces of each player next to their chip counts along with a flag showing the country they represent. A white arrow signifies whose action it is, while a red “SB,” “BB,” or “D” shows whether a person was in the small blind, big blind, or on the button, respectively.
After taking hits to his stack early, Scott Seiver doubled up with pocket aces against the K-J of 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Peter Eastgate. Now flush with new chips, Seiver sent Eastgate packing with pocket jacks against pocket eights when the board ran out K-5-4-Q-7. Shortly thereafter, Brett Richey moved all-in with A-Q for 25 big blinds and Ashton Griffin, the youngest player at the table at age 21, made the call with K-Q of clubs. In a dramatic hand, Griffin spiked a king on the river to send his opponent home.
Seiver picked up his eighth bounty by knocking out Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, the only player to make the Bounty Shootout final tables at the NAPT events at the Venetian and Mohegan Sun. Jaka was all-in with Q-10 against Seiver’s A-J of clubs. Seiver hit an ace and two clubs on the flop to add insult to injury and “The-Toilet” was flushed in fifth place.
Seiver’s ride came to an abrupt end at the hands of DoylesRoom front man Hoyt Corkins. First, Seiver doubled up the wily veteran after running pocket fives into Corkins’ pocket jacks. Corkins hit a jack on the turn to seal the win and double up. Then, Seiver committed his remaining chips with Q-10, but ran into Corkins’ A-K. The board ran out 6-7-A-K-7 and Seiver was dismissed in fourth place.
Joe Cassidy was eliminated in third place. He was all-in with A-2 of diamonds against Griffin’s A-9; Griffin hit a nine on the flop and never looked back. Cassidy’s elimination meant that Seiver officially picked up the $100,000 bounty bonus after recording a colossal eight knockouts, including all six members of his Round 1 table.
The heads-up match in the NAPT Venetian Bounty Shootout featured the oldest player at the table taking on the youngest. Only one hand was shown and featured Corkins busting with 9-3 against Griffin’s 9-8 on a nine-high flop. Griffin collected $560,000 for the win and the credits rolled.
The second hour of coverage was devoted to the final table of the NAPT Venetian Main Event. The eight-handed table featured “Miami” John Cernuto, who collapsed during a Razz event at last year’s WSOP, as the short stack. Eric Blair was the first casualty, as his pocket sevens could not hold in a race against Sam Stein’s A-K. Then, Cernuto’s run came to an end, as he called all-in with A-5 of clubs, but fell to Stein’s J-10. Stein hit runner-runner two pair to send Cernuto home in dramatic fashion.
Thomas Fuller was out in sixth place after committing his chips with pocket jacks against Dan Clemente’s pocket queens on a flop of 3-A-7. With his newfound chips, Clemente promptly doubled up Stein and Yunas Jamal. Then, David Paredes, who appeared in the “60 Minutes” feature about the Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet scandals two years ago, reappeared on television airwaves and busted in fifth.
Jamal was eliminated in fourth place when his pocket tens fell to Tom Marchese’s A-Q. Marchese hit an ace on the flop and Jamal could not catch up. Then, Clemente was eliminated in third place to set up a heads-up duel between Stein and Marchese. The former held an 18.6 million to 7.6 million advantage, or nearly 2.5:1.
Despite the chip lead, two questionable calls that had ESPN commentator Norman Chad up in arms led to Stein’s demise. In the first, Marchese raised to 500,000 pre-flop with K-9 and Stein made the call with J-5 of diamonds. The flop came 6-K-5 and Stein, holding bottom pair, check-called a bet of 625,000. The turn was a four and Stein once again check-called a bet from Marchese, this time 1.45 million. The river was a 10. Stein checked, Marchese moved all-in with top pair, and Stein called. Marchese doubled up to take the chip lead, leaving Chad to gasp, “What was Sam Stein thinking? He can only beat a bluff.”
Then, Marchese picked up pocket tens and raised to 500,000. Stein peeked down at 4-2 of spades and made the call to bring a flop of 4-5-9. Stein check-called bets on the flop and after a three hit on the turn. The river was a 10, giving Marchese a set, and Stein checked. Marchese pushed all-in and Stein made the call for his tournament life with just a pair of fours.
Three more weeks of NAPT coverage will air on ESPN2:
May 3rd: Mohegan Sun Shootout: 9:00pm to 11:00pm ET
May 10th: Mohegan Sun Shootout: 9:00pm ET
May 10th: Mohegan Sun $5,000 Main Event: 10:00pm ET
May 17th: PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 High Roller: 9:00pm to 11:00pm ET
