Credit to Jen Newell via
http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/north_...om-064755.html
Stardom may be too strong a word.
This is only the first American stop of the inaugural season of the North American Poker Tour, a series of live poker tournaments that has already proven itself a serious contender in the poker world.
And there were 872 players in the $5,000 buy-in tournament, which puts more than $4 million on the line for the last of the field to survive.
The winner will receive potentially life-changing money in the amount of $827,648.
Poker fans the world over are tracking the progress of the event as the field boasts some of the best players in the game.
On second hand, maybe stardom isn't too strong a word after all.
What is certain is that the players who made it through a grueling Day 2 are looking at the bigger picture. There is an NAPT title at stake and that $827,648, along with a performance documented by 411 Productions for broadcast on ESPN2.
That's an attractive picture.
One player with eyes on the prize is the Day 2 chip leader, Andrew "LuckyChewy" Lichtenberger with 618,200 chips. He soared over the 700K mark during the last level of the day but finally settled on a nice even number that will send him comfortably into the evening.
And there are others, notably a name familiar to those following from Day 1, as last night's chip leader Andy "BKiCe" Seth still remains near the top of the leaderboard. He looks to be in second, actually, with 602,600.
We would be remiss not to mention that there are several members of the Team PokerStars family of players still in the running as well. Vanessa Rousso leads the pack with 313,600 chips, and those with enough chips to come back tomorrow include Greg Raymer, Tom McEvoy, and Bill Chen. And we could be wrong, but there is something about that logo that provides an added boost to their already sincere and strong hopes of becoming the NAPT Venetian champion.
For now, players will leave the Venetian Poker Room and go their own ways, some to celebrate a job well done, others to relax and be mentally and physically prepared for the challenges ahead. Some might even entertain dreams of that final table, even the final hand, that will be played on Wednesday, just before the newest poker champion poses for photos with piles of money and the coveted PokerStars.net NAPT trophy.
All will resume at 12:00 noon tomorrow, when the chip bags will be unsealed, those various denominations will be stacked, and cards will fly. The field will undoubtedly play into the money tomorrow and play will be intense.
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NAPT Venetian end of Day 2 chips
Player Country Status ChipCount
Andy Lichtenberger USA 618700
Andy Seth USA 602600
Steve Billirakis USA 591200
David Miscikowski USA 586400
Jason Dewitt USA PokerStars player 482900
Eric Blair USA 466800
Mark Ketteringham USA 460000
Kyle Zartman USA 430800
Thomas Fuller USA 408500
David Paredes USA 389400
Tom Marchese USA 378500
Men Nguyen USA 378400
Sam Stein USA 369700
Francois Talbot Canada PokerStars player 365100
Nam Le USA 364100
Brian Horton USA PokerStars player 340800
Daniel Clemente USA 334600
Jonathan Aguiar USA PokerStars player 327700
Fabrice Soulier France 321700
Vanessa Rousso USA Team PokerStars Pro 313600
Steve O'Dwyer USA 307100
Bill Chen USA Friend of PokerStars.net 304200
Al Rogers USA 300000
Danny Wong USA 296700
John Cernuto USA 292500
Alexis Cordova USA 289000
Bruno Martin France� PokerStars player 287000
Stewart Yancik USA 286200
Chuck Kelley USA 272500
Paul Evans USA 269200
John Taitt USA 262300
Dwyte Pilgrim USA 259000
Daniel Abromson USA 256700
Ludovic Schlama France 248100
Daniel Cossette Canada PokerStars player 244900
Greg Raymer USA Team PokerStars Pro 242200
Robert Wisiak USA 235000
Olivier Busquet USA 222600
Michael Binger USA 220200
Russell Rosenblum USA 217700
Daniel Shak USA 211800
Tom Sinistaj USA PokerStars player 211400
Helen Martynov USA PokerStars player 210300
Kevin Eyring USA PokerStars player 210300
Robert McLaughlin USA 199600
Cody Slaubaugh USA 198800
James Mackey USA PokerStars player 198800
Frank Calo USA 192400
Zelong Dong USA PokerStars player 192000
Frank Traino USA PokerStars player 191500
Anselmo Villarreal USA 191300
Brett Richey USA 189500
Daniel Makowsky Switzerland� PokerStars player 189000
Mark Flowers USA 189000
William Van Ormer USA 185000
Justin Jones USA 180000
Justin Smith 175000
Daniel Alspach USA 173500
Matt Marafioti Canada 166600
Christina Lindley USA 158500
Tuan Vu USA 157400
Joshua Herman Canada PokerStars player 156900
Corey Hochman USA 156100
Steven Karp USA 155900
Joshua Fussner USA 154400
Bob Lauria USA PokerStars player 152100
Joseph Cutler USA 150400
Philip Collins USA 150300
Jonathan Tamayo USA PokerStars player 149700
Kevin Schulz USA 147500
Martin Medina Mexico 147000
Daniele Nestola Germany� PokerStars player 146100
Anthony Grappo USA 144400
Patrick Carron USA PokerStars player 142700
Yunus Jamal USA 141800
Paul Magriel USA PokerStars player 139400
Karga Holt USA 138800
Ben Stoesser Germany PokerStars player 138300
Michael McNeil USA PokerStars player 136100
Max Katz Russia 135200
Jared Davis Dutch Antilles� PokerStars player 135000
David Sayago Spain PokerStars player 133700
Brian Smith USA PokerStars player 131400
John Franciosi USA 128400
Christian Harder USA PokerStars player 127000
Blake Buffington USA 125500
Kitty Kuo Taiwan 124600
Jose Alboukrek Mexico 124100
Ted Lawson USA 120000
John Bunch USA 119100
Donald Toporowski Canada 117900
Robert Durante Canada� PokerStars player 116800
Lauren Kling USA PokerStars player 113200
Mclean Karr USA PokerStars player 111000
Klaus Pautrot France 110200
Paul Villamizar Canada� PokerStars player 106700
Van Marcus Australia 105400
Naim Tahan Netherlands� PokerStars player 104800
Matt Smith USA PokerStars player 103800
Mark Muchnik USA 102200
Joseph Cheong USA 101300
Arnold Rychner USA PokerStars player 98000
John O'Shea Ireland 95700
Joe Weiss USA 95200
Jose Ceballos Spain� PokerStars player 94200
Chris Bell USA 91000
Jimmy Fricke USA 90100
Ryan O'Connor UK PokerStars player 89400
Andrew Robl USA 88600
Daniel Schreiber USA 87000
Ory Hen USA 85800
Jon Turner USA 85100
Simon Taberham Australia PokerStars player 83800
Naohiko Yamazaki Japan 82700
David Poces USA 81300
Joseph Williams Canada 80900
Michael Botwin USA PokerStars player 80800
Ravi Raghavan USA 80600
Steve Stolzmann USA PokerStars player 78600
Geoffrey Ulrich Canada� PokerStars player 77000
Andrew Chen Canada� PokerStars player 74600
Mike Beasley USA 73800
Brion Maciel USA PokerStars player 72500
Daniel Sindelar USA PokerStars player 70900
Jason Glass USA PokerStars player 70500
Blair Hinkle USA 68000
Raffi King USA 66100
Gift Kusuwan USA PokerStars player 64800
Joshua Tekesky USA PokerStars player 63400
Mike Coglianese USA 63000
Tom McEvoy USA Team PokerStars Pro 62500
John Michalak USA PokerStars player 59800
William Reynolds USA 59400
Martins Adeniya UK PokerStars player 56200
Mark Salinaro USA PokerStars player 53400
Christiano Ribeiro Brazil� PokerStars player 50900
Steven Goosen Canada 48000
Riccardo Conigliaro Spain� PokerStars player 47500
Jason Ramirez USA PokerStars player 47400
Michael De Gilio Germany 45600
Anthony George USA 44000
Dmitrii Valouev USA 42500
Marco Traniello Italy 38600
Jimmie Caldwell USA 37800
Michael Graydon Ireland� PokerStars player 37600
Jose Franco Guatemala 32600
Vincent Rubianes USA 27200
Glenn Cozen USA 20900
Wolbert Bartlema Netherlands� PokerStars player 10600
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Cheers,
Neil
Pokerstars Live Events Specialist
