WPT vs. NAPT, Round 1

They’ve completed four days of play at the World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic. Going into today’s play, there are 22 players left from the original field of 745 players, with 2001 WSOP Main Event champion Carlos “The Matador” Mortensen on top followed by Mark “Newhizzle” Newhouse.

I was impressed to hear that the $10,000 buy-in event attracted that many entrants -- up from last year’s 696 (won by Cornel Cimpan). There was a lot of wondering whether or not the NAPT Venetian Main Event, which concluded last Wednesday (Feb. 24) would perhaps hurt the turnout for the WPT L.A. Poker Classic, which began last Friday (Feb. 26). There might have been a few folks who decided to skip the latter after playing the former, but in terms of the overall turnout there doesn’t seem to have been a major effect.

It would be interesting to see just how many of the 872 who played in the NAPT Venetian event then made the trip over to L.A. for the WPT event. I don’t have a list of all of the WPT entrants, and so cannot say for certain how many played in both.

A total of 128 players cashed at the NAPT Venetian, while the top 72 spots pay at the WPT L.A. Poker Classic. Looks like none of the remaining 22 players at the WPT made the money at the Venetian, although looking down the list I see six players who cashed in both events. They are:

Steven Goosen: NAPT, 127th, $7,232; WPT, 40th, $33,614

Steven Karp: NAPT, 93rd, $9,643; WPT, 27th, $45,773

Lauren Kling: NAPT, 104th, $8,839; WPT, 63rd, $23,602

Brett Richey: NAPT, 95th, $9,643; WPT, 26th, $45,773

Vanessa Rousso: NAPT, 25th, $18,080; WPT, 59th, 23,602

Jon “PearlJammer” Turner: NAPT, 126th, $7,232; WPT, 67th, $18,595.

It should be added that Brett Richey also won his first round table at the $25,000 Bounty Shootout event at the NAPT Venetian, going on to finish sixth at the final table there. With the bounties, Richey ultimately earned $90,000 at that event. Also, Hoyt Corkins, who also won his first table at the $25K and ended up finishing runner-up at the final table (earning $100,000 total), additionally cashed at the WPT Main Event this week, finishing 60th ($23,602).

No surprise to see the proven Turner show up at the cashier’s cage again. While I was gone last week, I received a copy of Jon Turner’s new book in the mail, Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time: Volume 2, co-authored with Eric “Rizen” Lynch and Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet. I very much liked the first volume, which was well written and nicely laid out, and full of clear explanations of particular tourney hands. So I’m looking forward to this second one which concentrates on how to play once you’ve reached the money, final table play, heads-up play, among other topics.

I think Rousso’s double-cash also further proves her mettle in no-limit hold’em tourneys. Last year could be considered a breakthrough year for her, finishing second in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship in March, then winning the €25,000 High Roller Championship at EPT Monte Carlo in May. Those wins helped her claim over $1.3 million in tourney winnings last year, the most of any woman player. It appears 2010 has begun relatively well, too, for the Team PokerStars pro.

Will be following how it all plays out at the L.A. Poker Classic over the next couple of days. Check the WPT site for your updates. The question of whether the circuit can handle both the NAPT and WPT seems to have been answered for now following this first pairing of events. Once the NAPT adds more events, though, it will be interesting to see how well the circuit can sustain two major tours here in the U.S.