Resorts World Las Vegas hosted its first PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Main Event in more than a decade. It had a star-studded final table including Sami Bechahed, Ping Liu, Sergio Aido, and Jonathan Borenstein.
Bechahed beat Borenstein to bag the $268,945 top prize and title. He admitted after the event that he faced tough rivals and the final table wasn’t a walk in the park. Yet, he took time before moving cards to avoid making a costly mistake.
The champion’s wife is nine months pregnant and he recently relocated to America to be with her. He has competed in several cash games with live streams outside of Southern California.
Bechahed won $274,916 in the 2022 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Choctaw Main Event. Still, the recent win raised his poker career winnings to over $1.1 million.
The latest $1,650 Buy-In NAPT Las Vegas No-Limit Hold’em Main Event featured 1,095 players who formed a $1,609,650 prize pool that exceeded its initial $1.5 million guarantee. Also, it comprised six starting flights and only the leading 159 players got a share of the pool. Skilled players who cashed despite missing the title included Scott Ball, David Jackson, Masato Yokosawa, Aditya Prasetyo, Ryan Leng, and Aaron Massey.
What Were Its Top Prizes?
- Sami Bechahed-$268,945 and 960 Card Player Player of the Year (POY) points
- Jonathan Borenstein-$168,175 and 800 POY points
- David Coleman-$120,130 and 640 POY points
- Ping Liu-$92,410 and 480 POY points
- Sergio Aido-$71,080 and 400 POY points
- Nick Schulman-$54,680 and 320 POY points
- Sandeep Pallampati-$42,060 and 240 POY points
- Anthony Dianaty-$32,355 and 160 POY points
- Ryan Leng-$24,885 and 80 POY points
How the Last Day Unfolded
Bechahed was the stack leader when the final day’s action kicked off and Sergio Aido followed him in second place. Sandeep Pallampati put bottom and top pair into Aido’s middle set. The latter got a crucial stack lead after sending the former packing in seventh place.
Nick Schulman followed him closely in the sixth position with $54,680 after his more than 10 big blinds all-in call lost to Bechahed’s small-blind shove. The remaining five players battled it out for a long time.
Aido’s KClub Suit3Club Suit clashed with Jonathan Borenstein’s AClub Suit10Club Suit. They paired the biggest card but Aido left the table in fifth place.
Bechahed used 9Spade Suit9Club Suit to flop top set of nines on the 9Diamond Suit8Spade Suit4Diamond Suit board. He made a check-raise over Ping Liu’s continuation bet. The 6Spade Suit river and 3Heart Suit turn didn’t help Liu and he exited in fourth place.
Borenstein’s A-8 dominated David Coleman’s A-9 suited. The latter used K-7 suited to stake his remaining blinds against Bechahed’s A-Q. They didn’t pair up by the river as Coleman finished third.
Bechahed had a significant chip advantage over Borenstein when their heads-up action began. The latter used AClub Suit10Heart Suit to call as the KSpade Suit10Diamond Suit3Heart SuitASpade Suit7Club Suit board earned Bechahed the title and pot. Borenstein finished second with $168,175.
