Images courtesy of PokerStars
After six days of play that began with three starting flights (none of which had to be cancelled due to the government shutdown), the 738 players who entered PokerStars NAPT $5,300 Main Event at Resorts World Las Vegas were down to six.
With a total prize pool of over $3.5 million and $653,050 set aside for the eventual champion, several players were positioned for the best results of their careers.
At the start of play, the chip counts were as follows:
- Thomas Boivin – 12,545,000
- Jen Shahade – 3,015,000
- Ekrum Bozkurt – 2,570,000
- Gal Yifrach – 2,280,000
- Michael Berk – 985,000
- Peter Mugar – 715,000
The blinds and antes were 100K/100K/50K with levels lasting 90 minutes, also known as three trips to the men’s room.
Thomas Boivin had a commanding lead over the rest of the field, with chess champion, fan favorite, and PokerStars Team Pro, Jen Shahade, a distant second.
That said, anything could happen, especially since one year ago the I.M.S.A. designated poker as an official mind sport, alongside chess, bridge, and go, making Shahade the Deon Sanders of poker, a veritable two-mind sport mathlete.
Ahead of the beginning of play, I was lucky enough to snag an interview with the Final Table. Not the players, the Table. What follows was edited for clarity, but I can assure you that it is the varnished truth.
Chuck Sklar: A lot of people watch poker tournaments like this one on live stream or on TV, often learning about the players’ origin story, but I want to ask you, Final Table, what’s your background?
Final Table: I’m from Europe. The EPT, to be specific.
CS: Right, I gather that you travel a lot for work?
FT: Are you kidding? In the last month, I’ve been in Malta, Cyprus, Maryland, and Las Vegas. Next stop, Prague. And you can imagine, I don’t travel light.
CS: No doubt. You’re not just a gaming table; you contain the technology that allows the viewers to see the players’ cards. That equipment must be heavy.
FT: Let’s table that conversation – pun intended. For me to tell you about our proprietary technology, you’d need to be thoroughly vetted, as would both of your readers.
CS: That was uncalled for.
FT: So, you can dish it out, but you can’t take it?
CS: Sounds like you’ve read my column.
FT: I guess that makes three of us.
CS: Let’s get back to the interview. You must know that most poker fans are aware of the hole cam technology used to show viewers the complete information that players don’t have unless they’re Chauncey Billups. It’s not exactly a secret.
FT: You, sir, have no idea what you’re typing about. Yes, we still have hole cameras because the best shot in televised poker is someone peeling aces, but that’s just for show. The real way we know who has what is radio frequency identification, or RFID. Each card has a little chip embedded in it.
CS: I thought I needed to be vetted.
FT: I probably shouldn’t have told you that, but what are they going to do, break my legs?
CS: Okay, you travel the world and are at the center of the action for the biggest poker tournaments and cash games in the world. It sounds like an amazing life, but is there anything you would change?
The Table grew wistful.
FT: It might look like I have a pretty glamorous life, but I’m the only one of me out there on the tour, and a lot of times it feels like the other tables are hating on me. I don’t know, maybe I deserve it.
CS: Are you sure that’s not just a story you’re telling yourself?
FT: Well, that’s my felt reality. Get it, felt reality….?
CS: Did you tell that sob story just to set that joke up?
FT: Yes.
CS: Respect. Last question, are you jealous of online poker?
FT: AI is a scourge that will destroy the industry as we know it.
Shortly after we spoke, the Final Table went to work crowning a champion, Gal Yifrach, in under 6 hours. Chip leader at the start of play, Boivin, came in second, and Jen Shahade took home third place.
