Sam Stein will bring a commanding chip lead to the final table of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Venetian Main Event. The eight-handed feature table will play down to a winner today from Las Vegas and air on ESPN2.
Stein owns a stack of 6.1 million chips entering final table play, comfortably in front of Thomas Fuller’s second place tally of 4.7 million. Stein is 22 years-old and hails from Henderson, Nevada. He was the runner-up to Stefan Huber in a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event held during the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas and can be found playing online under the moniker “KingKobeMVP.” In November, Stein won the PokerStars Super Tuesday for $64,000 and took fifth in the UB.com $150,000 Guaranteed one week ago.
Kyle Zartman was the final elimination on Tuesday to set up today’s eight-handed feature table. Zartman was crippled at the hands of David Paredes when he pushed with A-Q on a board of 3-3-2-Q for top pair, top kicker. Much to Zartman’s chagrin, Paredes turned over pocket deuces for a flopped full house and never looked back. Shortly thereafter, Zartman committed his remaining chips with Q-3, but ran into “Miami” John Cernuto’s A-K. Ninth place in the $5,000 buy-in poker tournament was worth $44,000.
Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, who has become a household name in the poker world after several memorable cameos on the G4 online poker reality series “2 Months, $2 Million,” busted in 10th place in the NAPT Venetian Main Event. Lichtenberger was all-in on the river on a board of J-3-7-7-3 and turned over K-Q for two pair with a king kicker. However, Stein flipped up pocket tens for a better two pair and scooped the pot. Lichtenberger also collected $44,000 for his efforts.
Landing in 11th place was John Franciosi, who pushed all-in pre-flop with A-8 and was up against Eric Blair’s A-K. Both players hit top pair on a flop of J-6-A, but a running 4-2 sent Franciosi into the Las Vegas night. The first elimination of the day belonged to Christina Lindley, who came out on the losing end of a race with pocket sixes against Daniele Nestola’s A-K. An ace hit on the flop, eliminating Lindley in 24th place. Right before her exit, she had doubled up with pocket sixes against Q-10 after making a flush.
When the smoke cleared, here’s how the chip stacks look entering today’s finale at the Venetian:
1. Sam Stein – 6,145,000
2. Thomas Fuller – 4,735,000
3. David Paredes – 4,700,000
4. Yunus Jamal – 3,940,000
5. Tom Marchese – 2,370,000
6. Eric Blair – 1,690,000
7. Daniel Clemente – 1,345,000
8. “Miami” John Cernuto – 1,300,000
For a tournament with a bevy of online qualifiers, the final table of the NAPT Venetian Main Event has a wide variety of ages represented. Cernuto is the elder statesman of the group at 66 years-old, while Clemente is 37 and hails from just outside of Tunica, Mississippi. Paredes and Jamal are both 30 years-old. The latter is a German transplant whose payday in the NAPT Venetian Main Event will be the largest of his poker career. The other four players are all in their 20s and will seek to win one for the young guns of poker.
Each player remaining is assured a payout of at least $60,000, with a top prize of $827,000 going to the winner. Here’s a look at the amounts at stake:
1st Place: $827,648
2nd Place: $522,306
3rd Place: $309,366
4th Place: $241,064
5th Place: $184,816
6th Place: $144,639
7th Place: $104,461
8th Place: $60,266
The cards hit the air at 2:00pm PT on Wednesday and play will continue until a winner is determined. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest NAPT coverage.