Stephen Song Holds Dominant Chip Lead After Day 2 of the NAPT $25,000 Super High Roller
Day 2 of the $25,000 Super High Roller at the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) festival has concluded. Day 1 attracted 44 entrants, with 28 returning for Day 2 at Resorts World Las Vegas. Late registration remained open until the start of play, and 16 additional players joined before action resumed.
With a total of 60 entrants, the players created a prize pool of $1,440,600, with a min cash worth $57,600 and a top prize of $439,400. Eight players made the money, and by the end of the night, only four players remained. Stephen Song leads the field, bagging 9,010,000 of the 15,000,000 chips in play.
End of Day 2 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Song | United States | 9,010,000 |
| 2 | Sean Winter | United States | 2,450,000 |
| 3 | James Collopy | United States | 2,210,000 |
| 4 | Edward Sebesta | United States | 1,335,000 |
Song finds himself at the top of the leaderboard, largely thanks to a double knockout just before the final table. He found himself in a dream spot with pocket aces against a short-stacked Clemen Deng and Justin Saliba, who held ace-king with a healthy stack. Once at the final table, Song kept his foot on the gas, playing aggressively and eliminating two players on his way to the chip lead.
Behind Song on the leaderboard is Sean Winter, who had a rollercoaster day. Winter benefitted from a massive double up in Level 12, winning with aces against kings to push his stack over 1,400,000. However, shortly after, he doubled up the same opponent, dropping back to 525,000. Still in Level 12, Winter got creative with pocket queens and secured another double up, bringing him back near the million-chip mark. Winter then cruised to the final table and into the money, steadily laddering up through the pay jumps.
Third in chips is three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner James Collopy, who entered the day second in chips. Collopy remained steady near the top of the leaderboard throughout the day. He narrowly avoided disaster in one of the final hands of the night when Song made a full house on the turn. Collopy revealed to the table that he had pocket kings, but managed to avoid a major setback.
Edward Sebesta, the short stack heading into the final day, has over $1,300,000 in career tournament earnings, with his biggest cash coming in at $311,915. If he can spin up his short stack and claim victory, Sebesta would set a new personal best with his largest tournament score to date.
Day 2 Action
Day 2 saw several new faces join the field, including Nick Schulman, David Peters, Andrew Lichtenberger, John Racener, and Martin Zamani. A few players who were eliminated before the end of Day 1 decided to reenter and give it another shot, including Jeremy Ausmus, Justin Saliba, and Aram Zobian. However, none of these players made the money, falling short of a payout.
Scott Seiver, Day 1 chip leader and 2024 World Series of Poker Player of the Year was at the top of the leaderboard for most of the day, until he ran into a brutal cooler against Elias Gutierrez. After Seiver three-bet Gutierrez��s open, he flopped trip sevens, only to run into Gutierrez��s flopped full house. After betting the flop and turn, Seiver jammed the river, which was snap called by Gutierrez, leaving Seiver with just 55,000 chips. He was eliminated shortly after.
Other notables falling short of the money include 2024 WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Tamayo, Jason Koon, Dylan Linde, Daniel Sepiol, Chance Kornuth, Jonathan Little, and Shannon Shorr.
Final Table
Nine players made the final table, but only eight would make the money. Nicholas Seward became the unfortunate bubble boy after losing a classic flip with his ace-king against Collopy's pocket queens.
Once the players made the money, the first to hit the payout desk was Paul Jager, who couldn't improve against Song. In seventh place was Brock Wilson, the short stack heading into the final table. Following him in sixth was Thomas Eychenne, who fell victim to Song's larger ace. The final elimination of the night was Elias Gutierrez, who ran into Winter's bigger pocket pair.
$25,000 Super High Roller Prize Pool and Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $439,400 | ||
| 2 | $288,100 | ||
| 3 | $208,900 | ||
| 4 | $158,500 | ||
| 5 | Elias Gutierrez | Spain | $122,500 |
| 6 | Thomas Eychenne | Italy | $93,600 |
| 7 | Brock Wilson | United States | $72,000 |
| 8 | Paul Jager | United States | $57,600 |
Be sure to follow PokerNews for live updates and coverage of our final day, and the rest of the NAPT at Resorts World Las Vegas.