PokerStars USA Invests in NAPT Las Vegas
PokerStars has not had an easy road in the United States market. Not only did the company wind up in a years-long and ultimately-losing battle with the state of Kentucky, it took the biggest hit from Black Friday. (PokerStars took the biggest hit because it was the only company that faced the charges, paid its dues, and bailed out players from the companies that did not.) PokerStars was the most intensely vetted company that wanted to enter the new US online poker market after Black Friday, and it complied every step of the way.
PokerStars brought its North American Poker Tour (NAPT) back when it reentered the US market, hosting its return celebration at Resorts World in Las Vegas in late 2023. It wasn’t the raging success that many anticipated, but it’s hoping to up the numbers for the 2024 NAPT Las Vegas.
2023 NAPT Las Vegas
The campaign to attract poker players to the 2023 North American Poker Tour return was lengthy and broad. PokerStars awarded prize packages worldwide, complete with satellites on the dot-com site outside of the United States and the New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania sites in America. It booked Resorts World on the Las Vegas Strip for 2023 NAPT Las Vegas, and it did so near the time of the inaugural Formula One racing event in Las Vegas.
The series of tournaments was consisted of primarily No Limit Hold’em and Omaha but with a couple of mixed game tournaments to change things up. And many of the events offered prize pool guarantees. The results were mostly positive, with only the last few events producing overlays.
- Event 3: $1,100 NLHE Deepstack = 144 entries / $138,240 prize pool ($125K GTD)
- Event 4: $360 Ladies NLHE = 94 entries / $28,200 prize pool ($20K GTD)
- Event 5: $10,300 NAPT Super High Roller = 59 entries / $572,300 prize pool (no guarantee)
- Event 9: $1,650 NAPT Main Event = 1095 entries / $1,609,650 prize pool ($1.5M GTD)
- Event 11: $550 Seniors NLHE = 87 entries / $41,760 prize pool ($20K GTD)
- Event 12: $550 PLO = 60 entries / $28,800 prize pool ($20K GTD)
- Event 16: $5,300 PLO = 41 entries / $198,850 prize pool (no guarantee)
- Event 17: $250 NLHE = 159 entries / $32,595 prize pool ($20K GTD)
- Event 20: $550 Mixed Game = 65 entries / $31,200 prize pool ($20K GTD)
- Event 22: $550 PokerStars Cup = 692 entries / $332,160 prize pool ($300K GTD)
- Event 23: $5,300 Mixed Game = 32 entries / $155,200 prize pool (no guarantee)
- Event 25: $5,300 NAPT High Roller = 150 entries / $727,500 prize pool ($500K GTD)
- Event 27: $1,100 NLHE Mystery Bounty = 265 entries / $250K prize pool w/overlay ($250K GTD)
- Event 29: $550 Limit 08 = 46 entries / $22,080 prize pool ($20K GTD)
- Event 30: $250 NLHE = 106 entries / $21,730 prize pool ($20K GTD)
- Event 31: $360 NLHE = 63 entries / $20K prize pool w/overlay ($20K GTD)
- Event 32: $1,100 NLHE Super Hyper Turbo = 41 entries / $50K prize pool w/overlay ($50K GTD)
(Note that the missing event numbers were satellites.)
There were some big names in the house, many recognizable poker faces, including ones like Jesse Lonis, Kyna England, Andrew Yeh, Eli Elezra, and Griffin Benger, who took home PokerStars Spade trophies for their wins. The Main Event featured players like Ryan Leng, Nick Schulman, Sergio Aido, and Ping Liu at the final table, though Sami Bechahed pulled out the win for $268,945.
Second Time Around
PokerStars is gearing up for its second iteration of this reintroduced NAPT event. They made the initial announcement back in May 2024, and they then released the full schedule at the end of August.
There are a few more events in the 2024 lineup than last year, notably a $25K buy-in Super High Roller. The biggest news, however, is a much larger Main Event – this year requiring a $5,300 buy-in but guaranteeing $3M. There are also partnerships with the RunGood Poker Series and Card Player Lifestyle for events. The full schedule for November 1-10 is available on the PokerStars LIVE website
The highlights will be:
- Event 1 (Nov 1-4): $550 NLHE Mystery Bounty w/5 flights ($300K GTD)
- Event 3 (Nov 4-5): $1,100 NLHE RunGood Open w/2 flights ($400K GTD)
- Event 5 (Nov 4-6): $25K NLHE NAPT Super High Roller
- Event 11 (Nov 5-10): $5,300 NLHE NAPT Main Event w/3 flights ($3M GTD)
- Event 12 (Nov 5): $330 NLHE Womens Event
- Event 22 (Nov 7): $550 Card Player Lifestyle HEROS Mixed Game
- Event 26 (Nov 8-10): $550 NLHE NAPT Cup w/4 flights ($300K GTD)
- Event 28 (Nov 8-10): $10,300 NLHE NAPT High Roller
- Event 29 (Nov 8-9): $5,300 Card Player Lifestyle 8-Game Mix
- Event 32 (Nov 9): $550 Card Player Lifestyle 8-Game Mix
Satellites are running, again, on the PokerStars global dot-com site and on US sites in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New Jersey.
This year, there is more. The connection with RunGood is presenting the chance for players on the RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) to win prize packages for the NAPT in the lead-up to the Vegas series. Players can compete at each RunGood tour stop for leaderboard points, and the winner at each stop will collect a PokerStars Gold Pass that includes a $5,300 NAPT Main Event buy-in, $2,900 in hotel accommodations, and $1,800 for travel and expenses.
