Jesse Lonis is Unstoppable at NAPT Las Vegas; Leads Final Six into Day 3 of $5,300 High Roller
Day 2 of the $5,300 High Roller at PokerStars North American Poker Tour Las Vegas is done and Jesse Lonis leads the final six players into Sunday’s Day 3 finale at Resorts World Las Vegas.
The tournament drew 150 players and created a prize pool of $727,500, from which Sunday’s winner will take home $180,850. Each of the returning six players is guaranteed at least $36,745.
Lonis holds a narrow lead over Samuel Laskowitz and the top twp players are the only two above two million in chips. John Andress sits in third as the only other player above one million, and Shannon Shorr is close behind. John Riordan claimed the fifth spot on the leaderboard and Alexander Condon will return with the short stack.
Lonis will return with an opportunity to win another trophy at NAPT Las Vegas after his victory in the $10,300 Super High Roller at the beginning of the series.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jesse Lonis | United States | 2,520,000 | 63 |
| 2 | John Andress | United States | 1,065,000 | 27 |
| 3 | Alexander Condon | United States | 315,000 | 8 |
| 4 | ||||
| 5 | ||||
| 6 | Shannon Shorr | United States | 855,000 | 21 |
| 7 | Samuel Laskowitz | United States | 2,230,000 | 56 |
| 8 | John Riordan | United States | 520,000 | 13 |
Day 2 Highlights
The 55 returning players from Day 1 were joined by 27 new runners from Day 2, sending the 127-entry total from Friday to a final tally of 150 entries. The group of early runners included Eli Berg, Michael Holtz, Pete Chen, Nick Pupillo, John Morgan, and a brief appearance by Phil Hellmuth.
The final 20 players earned a min-cash of $9,320 and among those that fell just short were Michael Wang, David Dongwoo Ko, and Maureen Bloechlinger. Arden Cho and David Stamm were eliminated just before the money — Cho on the stone bubble when her pocket queens were out-flopped by the ace-king of Andras Matrai.
Antonio Rodriguez finished in 20th place, followed by Harrison Ashdown, Frank Lagodich, John Morgan, Day 1 chip leader Anthony Hu, and Jordan Spurlin in quick succession. Sundiata Devore got it in with ace-nine but Condon sent him to the rail in 14th place with a lucky flop for his queen-seven. Jeremy Eyer hit the door just moments later when his jack-nine couldn’t catch up with Riordan’s pocket sevens.
Michael Jozoff and Matthew Salsberg were out in succession shortly after and the final ten players slowed down to fight for a spot at the final table. Ultimately, it was Riva Arthur that bowed out in tenth place for $16,295.
Laskowitz had the lead after the final table redraw and he was followed by Andress, the only other player over the one million chip mark at the time. Lonis trailed in fourth with 705,000, but the final table is where he made his move.
Matrai got it in with ace-queen offsuit, but Lonis was waiting with pocket tens to take him out in ninth place. Nearly a full level later, Luke Graham got it in with pocket threes, but Lonis had pocket nines and Graham was out in eighth place. The succession of pots in final table play brought Lonis to over 2.3 million, roughly more than three times the stack with which he started.
As the players prepared to enter their final break, Nadya Magnus took her shot with a suited ace-four after she flopped two diamonds, but Shorr called with pocket jacks and avoided the flush to send Magnus home in seventh place. The hand ended the night and set the final table of six players for Sunday.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $180,850 |
| 2 | $113,030 |
| 3 | $80,740 |
| 4 | $62,105 |
| 5 | $47,770 |
| 6 | $36,745 |
Players will return with 13:27 remaining in Level 25 with blinds at 20,000/40,000/40,000. Play will begin at 12:30 p.m. local time and the PokerStars live stream will kick off approximately 30 minutes later on YouTube and Twitch.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for the final day of live updates from the floor of NAPT Las Vegas at Resorts World.