On Sunday night, ESPN2’s coverage of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Los Angeles Bounty Shootout wrapped up. In addition, action from the final table of the $5,000 buy-in NAPT LA Main Event aired, with Lon McEachern and Norman Chad on the call.
A winner-take-all top prize of $135,000 was up for grabs at the nine-handed finale of the Bounty Shootout. Also at stake was a buy-in to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Bounty Shootout in January for the player who recorded the largest number of bounties. Every final table member received a starting stack of 100,000 and scored a $20,000 bonus.
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, a sponsored pro of UB.com, doubled up courtesy of Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi to become the Bounty Shootout’s chip leader in the early going. Baldwin flopped a set of aces and Mizrachi’s flush draw didn’t come to fruition to shoot him to the top of the pack. Then, Clint Coffee ousted Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee in ninth place.
Mizrachi doubled up through PokerStars pro Pat Pezzin with A-J against pocket tens. However, “The Grinder” met his demise in eighth place after running pocket fives into pocket tens. The latter hand was shown down multiple times throughout the one-hour episode in a scene reminiscent of the movie “Groundhog Day.”
Mohsin “chicagocards1” Charania sent Pezzin to the rail in seventh place with pocket sixes against A-J to trim the table even further. Charania flopped a boat in the hand and never looked back to record bounty number five. Then, Justin Young stacked a fifth bounty chip of his own after sending Coffee home in sixth place. Coffee ran pocket sevens into the always-popular pocket tens on his final hand and took home $23,000.
Tom Marchese was ousted in fifth place at the hands of David Williams. Then, Williams sent Charania packing in fourth place after his pocket tens held against Charania’s A-7 of hearts. “DW” followed suit in third place after pocket tens claimed another victim. This time, Williams moved all-in pre-flop with A-Q and Young looked him up with the mid-pocket pair. The board came 4-9-K-3-7 and Williams earned $24,000 for his third place run.
Williams’ elimination set up a heads-up showdown between two friends and neighbors in Henderson, Nevada, Baldwin and Young. The latter had already secured the most number of bounties at six and doubled up Baldwin with A-Q against pocket sevens. Neither overcard hit and Baldwin closed the gap at the Bounty Shootout finale. In the end, Baldwin’s pocket kings withstood Young’s A-Q after all of the money went in before the flop to take down the crystal Bounty Shootout trophy.
The second hour of coverage on Sunday night was devoted to the NAPT LA Main Event. The eight-handed final table awarded a top prize of $725,000 to its winner and Joe Tehan went on the run of the century during the ESPN2 program. After doubling up with pocket kings against chip leader Chris DeMaci’s A-K in the opening minutes, Tehan eliminated every single player at the final table to claim victory.
ESPN gave a considerable amount of love to World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Jason Mercier during its Main Event coverage. However, the Floridian’s run ended quickly, as his A-K could not draw out on Tehan’s pocket jacks in his final hand. The board ran out five cards nine or lower and that was all she wrote for Mercier. His parents had traveled to Los Angeles to watch their son play after he had entered the final table second in chips, but Mercier departed in seventh place.
The NAPT LA Main Event’s final hand saw DeMaci commit his chips with K-4 on a flop of K-3-5 for top pair. However, Tehan had him trumped with K-10 for top pair with a better kicker, which held when the board filled out 5-4. Each player held kings and fives, but Tehan’s ten played to earn the “W” and nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.
Sunday night marked the end of ESPN’s coverage of the 2010 NAPT. On January 15th, look for the final table of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event to air live on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com.
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