One of the things that made the 2024 PokerStars North American Poker Tour Las Vegas so special was the fact the buy-in for the Main Event was raised from $1,650 to $5,300. As a way to make the increased entry fee accessible to everyday players, PokerStars was busy awarding $10,000 Gold Passes via different routes to players from all around the world.
When the tournament kicked off, 115 Gold Pass winners had been minted from Path to the NAPT Satellites, supporting live events, and partner promotions (such as Louis Rivera via the PokerNewsPodcast giveaway). Of those, 20 managed to make the money cashing for a combined $241,600!
The Gold Pass winner to do the best was Brian Frasca, a 32-year-old Actuary from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He was playing on PokerStars PA and had amassed $100 Step 4 tickets with the plan of firing away at Gold Pass satellite. Well, it only took one bullet to win his way to Las Vegas.
“It was awesome,” he told PokerStars before the tournament. “To get in on my first bullet in a $100 satellite was pretty incredible.”
Frasca started taking the game seriously back in 2015, which was before Pennsylvania had online poker, so he found himself driving across state lines to New Jersey. At the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Frasca made a deep run placing 78th for $81,000.
Frasca made it deep into Day 3 when just 19 players remained in Level 24 (15,000/30,000/30,000). That is when reporter David Salituro captured the final hand for a Gold Pass winner. As Salituro reported, it happened when action folded to Martin Carnero in the small blind who raised to 90,000. Frasca called and they went heads-up to the J♦9♠6♠flop.
Carnero then bet 190,000 and Frasca moved all in for 350,000. Carnero snap-called.
Brian Frasca: J♥10♠
Martin Carnero: K♣K♦
Frasca had flopped top pair, but Carnero showed down two kings to leave him at risk of elimination. Frasca picked up a straight draw on the Q♣turn, but the 9♣fell on the river and he was sent to the rail in 19th place for $29,900.
https://www.pokernews.com/news/2024/11/2024-napt-side-event-winners-recap-2-47325.htm
Another Gold Pass winner was Ka Chun Yung, who was a Freeroll Qualifier via a Pokerstars WCOOP League social giveaway. He also made it to Day 3 but exited a level before Frasca. As reporter Brett Slezak captured, 22 players remained in Level 23 (10,000/25,000/25,000) when David "ODB" Baker opened to 50,000 from the cutoff before Yung jammed for 310,000 from the big blind. Baker confirmed the count before he called off to put Yung at risk.
Ka Chun Yung: A♠J♦
David "ODB" Baker: A♣5♣
Yung was in good shape with a dominating ace and stayed ahead on the 9♦7♥2♠flop. However, the 5♠landed on the turn to give Baker the lead and the 9♣river sealed the elimination of Yung in 22nd place for $26,000.
Some other Gold Pass winners to make deep runs were Michael Bohmerwald (28th - $19,650), Jordan Glazer (46th - $14,900), and Daniel Perrier (50th - $14,900).
The $5,300 buy-in NAPT Las Vegas 2024 Main Event proved to be a successful affair, which was evidenced by the numbers. As we already mentioned, there were 115 Gold Pass winners in the field of nearly 900 runners.
Here’s a look at some figures from the event:
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