North American Poker C...

Monday, October 13, 2008

99 Problems: NAPC Day 2

We're down below the century mark after another day of play at the World Poker Tour's third annual North American Poker Championship in Niagara Falls, as only 99 players remain in the hunt for WPT glory in the Great White North.

It was a scorcher outside the Fallsview Resort and Casino on the shores of the Niagara River as the Canucks celebrated their Thanksgiving on Monday, with temperatures hovering around the 23°C mark (73°F) as action got under way at noon ET in the casino's Grand Hall.

Inside, however, the intensity of the air conditioning was equaled only by that of the bad beats being dispensed, with seemingly every elimination in the first few levels of play involving one hapless rounder getting all of his money in good, only to be viciously sucked-out-upon by a rival with a lesser hand.

Pass de dutchie!

A total of 275 players returned to action on Day 2 of the NAPC after the three first days carved the initial deadwood from a starting field that amounted to 454 souls. Leading the pack into action on Thanksgiving Monday was Jamie "Chronic420" Rosen, who managed to amass a tasty $196,300 during Day 1b action.

Rosen was joined at the top of the leaderboard by alleged "November Niner" Darus Suharto, who held $188,000, and Stephen James Chidwick with $165,700. Also still in contention near the top of the pops were Steve Paul-Ambrose, Lee Markholt, Christian "charder" Harder and Erik Cajelais, with superstars Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, Gavin Smith, Bill Edler and Vanessa Rousso also lurking on the survivor's list.

T-Dot's finest!

With the total number of entrants fully tabulated, tournament organizers were finally able to release the payout structure for the current event, following a lengthy vetting process by the Fallsview Casino's accounting department, as required by Ontario gaming laws.

The structure was released just before the end of play on Monday and the gory details are as follows: of the 454 entrants who took part in this poker extravaganza, 45 will be paid. Initial payouts will start at $17,498 and increase from there, with the top seven finishers taking home at least six figures' worth of loonies and toonies.

First prize amounts to a delicious $1,224,852 CDN, which translates into $1,077,707 in American funds. It's a drop from the $1,361,274 CDN that Scott Clements took home last year, without even considering the fact that the Canadian dollar was worth roughly $1.05 USD during last year's NAPC, as compared to $0.88 USD at present.

Runs good like Change100.

But whatever. We're not here to play "Whose prize package is bigger?"; we're here to celebrate the greatness of 2008's North American Poker Championship, and celebrate we will.

The plan heading into play on Monday was to play as many as seven 90-minute levels or until 99 players were left standing, whichever came first. As it would turn out, only a few more minutes than the 450 allotted for Days 1a through 1c were required to meet the magic number, with the initially languid structure heating up and those aforementioned cooler hands prevailing.

While pros like Joe Sebok and Shawn Buchanan would profit from the bad beats they laid on unsuspecting rivals, players like Mark Seif and John Phan would find themselves in the opposite position.

Phan was one of the earliest eliminations of the day, getting it in good with pocket aces and finding an opponent with tens flopping a set for the win. Seif, meanwhile, would flop a set of kings against an opponent with A-Q, only to see his rival turn a gutshot straight for that most painful of bustifications.

Daniel, my brother!

Meanwhile, a short-stacked Daniel Negreanu became one of the few early eliminations to hit the rail with just cause. Without a doubt the fan favorite here in his home country, the Team PokerStars pro ran his A-Q into an opponent's pocket aces and found himself drawing dead on the turn after his rival flopped top set.

Negreanu would bust late in Level 7 and spend the rest of the day negotiating his way through the fearsome mob of autograph-seekers that clustered outside the Grand Hall awaiting his departure.

Top story for the day, however, was the battle between Gavin Smith and Barry Greenstein. Seated at a table that also included the likes of Mike Watson, J.C. Tran and Erik Cajelais, Smith and Greenstein traded jabs throughout the proceedings, with the Bear telling assembled media that a very laggy Smith was "the worst player by far at the table" and Smith making no secret of his desire to relieve Greenstein of that copy of Ace on the River he'd been dragging around.

Looking for some new bathroom reading.

Smith wouldn't get the book on Day 2, but he would get a nice consolation prize in the end-of-day chip lead. Playing nearly every pot at the "feature table" and hammering relentlessly away at everyone unlucky enough to be seated at his patch of felt, Smith amassed a total of $405,900, good for more than $22k on runner-up Matt Matros.

Greenstein, however, would manage to elude Smith's clutches, riding an up-and-down day to a $64,500 end-of-day stack and a continued shot at back-to-back final tables here at Niagara.

Also among the 99 who survived until play was concluded early in Level 6 were Vivek Rajkumar ($342,100), Robert Cheung ($316,100), Kathy Liebert ($298,300), Sorel Mizzi ($209,200), Marc Karam ($206,400), Erik Seidel, Joe Sebok, Lee Markholt, Matt Stout, Steve Paul-Ambrose, Shawn Buchanan and Darus Suharto.

All of the above and their lesser well-known compatriots will return on Tuesday at noon ET to continue the action. We'll play down through the money and presumably quit at either 27 or 18 finalists, although nothing has been made public as of yet.

Either way, you know the drill. PokerListings.com will be here and you will be, too. Our patented Live UpdateTM technology gives you the best seat in the house for all of the action, like high-def for your mind. Tune in, turn on and let the PL get your mind right. Peace!