The doors swung upon on the second edition of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour Las Vegas festival today with Day 1a of the $550 NAPT Mystery Bounty.
A field of 232 players filled the Resorts World Las Vegas poker room throughout the day as only the top 35 would finish in the money and book a ticket into Day 2. Chris Shebat ended up as the chip leader with 570,000 after winning a massive pot off Eric Molina when he flopped the nut straight to crack Molina’s set of aces.
Justin Young helped burst the bubble when he won a coin flip with two sevens against Jimmy Setna’s ace-queen on his way to bagging up 522,000. A few hands earlier, Young had spiked a flush to bust Young Sik Eum after both players showed down ace-king. Victor Paredes (479,000), Matthew Lambrecht (363,000), and Ekrem Bozkurt (266,000) round out the top five.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Shebat | 570,000 |
| 2 | Justin Young | 522,000 |
| 3 | Victor Paredes | 479,000 |
| 4 | Matthew Lambrecht | 363,000 |
| 5 | Ekrem Bozkurt | 266,000 |
| 6 | Yi Lin | 255,000 |
| 7 | Brian Battistone | 250,000 |
| 8 | Chris Vickrey | 240,000 |
| 9 | Quinn Lowry | 218,000 |
| 10 | Ky Nguyen | 203,000 |
Other players to survive the day include Irish Open champion David Docherty (186,000), Spencer Champlin (181,000), Team PokerStars Pro Barny Boatman (164,000), and Ben Ludlow (106,000). Among those who will have to try again on another starting flight are Jeff Platt, who busted one of his bullets today against quad kings, as well as Frank Lagodich, Terrance Reid, Joshua Remitio, Jack Hardcastle, Maria Konnikova, Tyler Patterson, and Ryan Leng.
There are still four more starting flights for players to try to make the money. Day 1b is ongoing, with two more flights tomorrow and the fifth and final Day 1e flight on Sunday at noon. All remaining players combine for Day 2 on Monday at noon when mystery bounties come into play. Day 2 will pick up on the earliest finishing time from one of the starting flights. Day 1a finished with 15 minutes remaining in Level 17 with blinds of 3,000-6,000 and a 6,000 big blind ante.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow providing live updates from another opening flight as the 2024 NAPT Las Vegas rolls on.
