The Last and Final Table
Five days of poker are behind us, and today is the final day of Season 1 at the PokerStars.net NAPT Los Angeles. We've moved house and left The Bicycle behind in Bell Gardens. Our made-for-TV final table is being filmed at the Crystal Casino in lovely Compton, and 441 Productions is hard at work making last-minute preparations to the familiar starlit NAPT stage.
We've got ourselves a good one today. PokerStars still has two of its team pros in contention, and Jason Mercier is the heavy betting favorite, beginning the day in second place. Canadian Pro Anh Van Nguyen is second from the bottom, but a good cash today will move him up into the millionaire's club for career tournament earnings.
Everyone's chasing Chris DeMaci, though. The big stack since Day 3, DeMaci only needed one enormous pot on Day 4 to coast into the final table as the commanding chip leader. His 6.283 million chips gives him about a third of the chips in play and a cushion of more than 2 million from his nearest challenger, Mercier.
Here's how the table will set up when the players join the action:
Seat 1: Jacob Toole - 1,975,000
Seat 2: Joe Tehan - 1,907,000
Seat 3: Michael Binger - 1,670,000
Seat 4: Anh Van Nguyen - 1,058,000
Seat 5: Jason Mercier - 3,800,000
Seat 6: Al Grimes - 982,000
Seat 7: Ray Henson - 3,268,000
Seat 8: Chris DeMaci - 6,283,000
We're scheduled to get rolling in just about an hour, at 2:00 p.m. We've got a tableside seat, and we'll be bringing you all of the action live and in technicolor. Sit tight; we'll be back with the shuffle up and deal.