The PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) is returning after a 12-year hiatus, and where better to get the show on the road than fabulous Las Vegas? The series will run from November 4-12 at Resorts World in Las Vegas.
The 2023 NAPT Las Vegas takes place just one week before the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and players will have a chance to win their way to both.
| $10,300 NAPT Super High Roller | Recap | Nov 05-07, 2023 |
| $1,650 Main Event | Recap | Nov 06-11, 2023 |
| $5,300 NAPT High Roller | Recap | Nov 10-12, 2023 |
| $1,100 NLH Mystery Bounty | Recap | Nov 12, 2023 |
The North American Poker Tour (NAPT) is a series of tournaments that represent markets in the United States and Canada. The tour makes its return in 2023 after a hiatus of more than a decade. The event runs from November 4-12 at Resorts World in Las Vegas. A $1,650 buy-in NAPT Las Vegas Main Event runs from November 6-11, and a $550 PokerStars Cup is scheduled for November 9-12, with a $5,300 High Roller attracting the biggest names between November 10-12.
In 2010, PokerStars launched the NAPT and it immediately gained notoriety thanks in large part to the era it took place in, the successful branding of the tour, and a beneficial television deal with ESPN, the largest sports network in North American.
ESPN aired the NAPT on its secondary network, ESPN2, and used its long-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) commentators Lon McEachern and Norman Chad. Here's a video of former PokerStars ambassador Jason Mercier making an incredible call on the river with a small pair in a 2010 event.
The NAPT began at the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in January with a $10,300 buy-in tournament that attracted 1,529 entries, creating a massive prize pool of $14.8 million. Harrison Gimbel would take it down, beating Tyler Reiman heads-up to win $2.2 million.
William Reynolds won a $25k high roller NAPT event during that same PCA series for $576,400, beating out 84 entrants. The third and fourth tour tournaments took place at the Venetian in Las Vegas with Tom Marchese and Ashton Griffin each winning an event.
In April 2010, the next two NAPT tournaments took place at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and two big name PokerStars pros at the time came out victorious — Selbst and Mercier. Action then shifted to the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles in November of that same year. Joe Tehan won a $5,000 event for $725,000, beating out 701 players.
Season 2 kicked off in January 2011 at the PCA where Galen Hall came out victorious in a $10,300 buy-in tournament for $2,300,000. The turnout was slightly higher than the year prior, showing that NAPT interest hadn't fallen off.
The tour then returned to Mohegan Sun for another successful tournament starting April 9, 2011 with 367 players registered for the $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament. Little did the NAPT know at the time that four days later, Black Friday would hit. Selbst won the tournament on April 13, two days prior to Black Friday, for $450,000 and became the only two-time NAPT champion. And that was the end of the North American Poker Tour for 11 years.
| Location | Date | Buy-In | Entries | Winner | Winner Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCA (Bahamas) | Jan. 5-11, 2010 | $10,300 | 1,529 | Harrison Gimbel | $2,200,000 |
| PCA (Bahamas) | Jan. 11-14, 2010 | $25,500 | 84 | William Reynolds | $576,400 |
| Venetian (Las Vegas) | Feb. 20-24, 2010 | $5,000 | 872 | Tom Marchese | $827,648 |
| Venetian (Las Vegas) | Feb. 23-25, 2010 | $25,600 | 49 | Ashton Griffin | $560,000 |
| Mohegan Sun (Connecticut) | April 7-11, 2010 | $5,000 | 716 | Vanessa Selbst | $750,000 |
| Mohegan Sun (Connecticut) | April 23-25, 2010 | $25,600 | 35 | Jason Mercier | $475,000 |
| Bicycle Casino (Los Angeles) | Nov. 12-17, 2010 | $5,000 | 701 | Joe Tehan | $725,000 |
| *PCA (Bahamas) | Jan. 8-15, 2011 | $10,300 | 1,560 | Galen Hall | $2,300,000 |
| *Mohegan Sun (Connecticut) | April 9-13, 2011 | $5,000 | 367 | Vanessa Selbst | $450,000 |
With PokerStars back in business in parts of the US (Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) and Ontario, the poker site is bringing back live poker action around the continent.
PokerStars previously announced a save the dates for the North American Championship of Online Poker (NACOOP), which will run September 15-October 2. Now, the full schedule has been released, as well as the first chance to win a Vegas Gold Pass that’ll combine NAPT action and an Oracle Red Bull Racing Fan Experience in November.
The NACOOP will last just over two weeks and is comprised of 315 tournaments in a wide variety of games and buy-ins. There will be 61 Championship Trophies up for grabs and over $7 million in guaranteed prize pools. The USCOOP, which is for players in the merged market of Michigan and New Jersey, will offer 89 tournaments with buy-ins from $10-$2,500 with $3 million in GTDs. The PACOOP for players in Pennsylvania will have the same number of events, albeit with $2.5 million in GTDs. For players in Ontario, they will be able to play 137 tournaments with $1.5 million (~$2 million CAD) in GTDs in the ONCOOP.
Win a Red Spade Pass to Vegas for the F1 Race Through PokerStars US
The NACOOP will offer the first opportunities to win a Vegas Gold Pass, with one Pass available for the Main Event winner of each Championship. There will be many more opportunities for poker players and racing fans elsewhere across the globe to get their hands on a coveted Vegas Gold Pass, with further ways to win announced soon.$4,000 towards flights and expenses.
Overall guarantees are inclusive of a Vegas Gold Pass package for the winners of the respective Main Events (October 1-2). The package, worth $20,300, includes the following:
The 2023 NAPT Las Vegas stop runs from November 4-12.
The 2023 NAPT Las Vegas event will be held at Resorts World in Las Vegas.
The NAPT Las Vegas Main Event will be held from November 6-11, 2023.
The NAPT Las Vegas Main Event buy-in is $1,650.