Day 1e of the $1,650 Main Event has come to an end at PokerStars North American Poker Tour Las Vegas and PokerStars ambassador Parker Talbot has a commanding chip lead after 14 levels of play. Talbot leads a field of 95 survivors that will return on Thursday for Day 2.
The fifth of six flights drew 449 players to Resorts World Las Vegas to play for their share of the $1,500,000 guarantee.
Talbot finished with a whopping 681,000 and his nearest competitor was Andrew Moreno with 492,000. Cade Lautenbacher finished in third on the leaderboard with 339,000 while Jeremy Eyer and Tom Orpaz rounded out the top five with 327,000 and 227,000, respectively.
Talbot dominated all day, only ceding the chip lead for a brief moment in the late levels to Moreno. The two players shared a table in the late levels and accounted for more than one million chips between them.
Day 1e Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Day 2 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parker Talbot | Canada | 681,000 | 227 |
| 2 | Andrew Moreno | United States | 492,000 | 164 |
| 3 | Cade Lautenbacher | United States | 339,000 | 113 |
| 4 | Jeremy Eyer | United States | 327,000 | 109 |
| 5 | Tom Orpaz | Israel | 277,000 | 92 |
| 6 | Chad Brewer | United States | 268,000 | 89 |
| 7 | Daniel Chan | United States | 268,000 | 89 |
| 8 | Seunghwan Lee | United States | 257,000 | 86 |
| 9 | Scott Ball | United States | 245,000 | 82 |
| 10 | Anthony Dianaty | United States | 245,000 | 82 |
Day 1e Highlights
The day started with 76 players in their seats, and among the early entrants was PokerStars ambassador Matthew “Rosey” Rosenfield. PokerNews spent an orbit with Rosenfield, one-third of the Next Gen Poker trio, picked up a few chips during that orbit but he ultimately failed to find a bag.
Other early notables included Moreno, Ben Ludlow, Nick Pupillo, and Rania Nasreddine. PokerStars ambassador Jen Shahade also took a shot in her first NAPT event, but she was out early after she called a river jam with the lesser pair. Ludlow will return with 193,000 and Nasreddine will try to spin up 59,000, while Pupillo failed to qualify for Day 2 in this flight.
Barrett Lipkin, Sridhar Sangannagari, and Calvin Kelleher all qualified for the Main Event through PokerStars promotions in their home state. Kelleher and Sangannagari represented New Jersey, while Lipkin won a trip from his home state of Pennsylvania. Lipkin found a bag with 132,000, but Kelleher and Sangannagari did not move on to Day 2.
Talbot and Moreno set the pace early with chip counts at the top of the leaderboard in Level 6. They were followed by David Stamm, who fell back to the pack and failed to make Day 2, and Vanessa Kade, who ran into some trouble early in the day before she doubled through Talbot with a pair of aces. Kade ultimately failed to make it to Day 2.
When the players returned from dinner break, Talbot still had the lead and Michael Wang was on his heels. Moreno was still keeping pace and Morgan was right there with all of them. Talbot’s lone hiccup during the day came when PokerNews visited his table for an orbit. He started with 243,000 — the highest in the room — but he ended the orbit with 204,000 after clashes with Pupillo and Ethan “Rampage” Yau.
Moreno claimed the chip lead for that brief amount of time, but Talbot was right back in control and at the top of the chip counts by Level 11 and he did not relinquish the top spot. Orpaz also went on a late run with gutsy bets against the likes of Michael Jozoff and Kathy Liebert.
Other returning players include WSOP Main Event runner-up David Williams, PokerGO personality Donnie Peters, Jesse Lonis, Mitchell Halverson, David Peters, John Morgan, Mark Seif, and Matthew Wantman.
Surviving players from all six flights will return on Thursday at 12 p.m. for Day 2. Action will continue in Level 15 with blinds at 1,500/3,000/3,000. Live stream coverage of the event will begin on Day 3.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for live updates from the floor of your favorite tournaments at NAPT Las Vegas.
