After a 12-year hiatus, the PokerStars North American Poker Tour Las Vegas returned and brought with it $1,500,000 guaranteed prize pool in the Main Event. With action going down at Resorts World Las Vegas, players looking to claim the title showed up to sit down and march toward a bag.
The second of six Day 1 flights played into the early hours of the morning and gathered a field of 33 runners, which included multiple bracelet holders and past PokerStars title winners. Of those 33 hopefuls, only eight found a bag for Day 2 play, when all remaining players will join together on Thursday.
End of Day Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cody Wiegmann | United States | 242,000 | 81 |
| 2 | Daniel Balilti | Isreal | 204,500 | 68 |
| 3 | Ryan Leng | United States | 138,500 | 46 |
| 4 | Matt Affleck | United States | 123,000 | 41 |
| 5 | William Bradbury | United States | 88,500 | 30 |
| 6 | Asher Conniff | United States | 88,000 | 29 |
| 7 | Ryne Teston | United States | 78,000 | 26 |
| 8 | Mark Ioli | United States | 32,500 | 11 |
Bagging the biggest stack of the day was Cody Wiegmann, who will come back to 242,000 when play resumes. Finishing with a top three stack is three-time bracelet winner Ryan Leng, who just a level before bagging was down to 17,000 before going on a run to end the night. Matt Affleck (123,000), Mark Ioli (32,500), poker YouTuber Ryne "Pyzza" Teston (78,000) and Asher Conniff, who walked in right as late registration was about to close just before 2:00 a.m. and built a stack worth 88,000, will all return for the Day 2 session as well.
Action of the Day
While the field was small, the action was big as very early in the day; players were more than willing to make a big river bluff or get in a couple hundred blinds after a six-bet preflop. Notable players that fell victim to the action of the day include Tom Orpaz and Matthew Wantman, who exited in tenth place at the end of the night to narrow the remaining field to a single table.
The final minutes of the day were especially brutal for Michael Wang, who had built a big stack earlier in the day and continued doing well until he found himself on the wrong end of a massive blind versus blind confrontation with Affleck that left Wang with just a few blinds. He'd bust a short time later, just after 5 a.m., on the second-to-last hand of the night, which had to be a frustrating way to end the day.
Day 1c starts on Tuesday at 11 a.m. local time and is scheduled to play 14 levels, each lasting 40 minutes. With three more flights to follow before all remaining players converge on Thursday, November 9th, the field is expected to grow with more strong competition showing up to stake their claim as champion.
Keep it locked here to PokerNews for all live, up-to-date coverage of all remaining flights of the 2023 NAPT Las Vegas Main Event!
