The NAPT Main Event concluded Day 2 action late on Thursday. 34 hopefuls remain in the hunt for the top prize of $268,945 and the PokerStars spade trophy. The surviving players are each guaranteed a payout of $6,005, but they'll all have their sights firmly set on the win.
Florida's Anthony Dianaty holds the top spot in the chip counts with a stack of 3,220,000, nearly double that of second place Liran Betito, of Israel. Nick Schulman, poker pro and commentator, rounds out the top three chip counts with 1,860,000 chips, just one big blind less than Betito.
Other notables to find Day 3 bags include the Spaniard Sergio Aido, Japanese vlogger Masato Yokosawa, Matthew Wantman, and Aaron Massey.
The money bubble burst during Day 2 play following a grueling build-up that saw the action slow significantly during hand-for-hand play. There were numerous all-in confrontations, but each time the shorty managed to double up to survive. Eventually, Turbo Nguyen found himself at risk with pocket tens against the king-jack of Wantman. The flop paired Wantman's jack and left Nguyen drawing to just two outs for his tournament life.
Unfortunately for Nguyen, the miracle two-outer failed to materialize on the turn or river and his day ended just shy of the money.
PokerStars Ambassadors fall short
PokerStars Ambassadors Parker Talbot, Maria Konnikova, and David Kaye were unable to survive the day's carnage.
Talbot began Day 2 as the chip leader and held a large stack throughout most of the day. In the final level of play, however, Talbot found himself in a tough spot during a blind vs. blind confrontation against Betito. Talbot's ace-jack was in rough shape against Betito's ace-queen and couldn't find one of the three outs needed to win the hand. It wasn't over for Talbot, however, as he covered his opponent. The ten big blinds remaining for Talbot didn't last long as he exited just a few hands later.
Other notable bust-outs include Phil Hellmuth, who fell just short of the money in a cooler spot. Hellmuth made trip sixes on the turn only to lose to a turned full house, but took the blow with very good grace. Andrew Moreno got his chips in with a flopped straight, but found himself up against two holdings with plenty of equity. Jonathan Glendinning held a set, hoping for the board to pair, while Girish Reknar's flush draw had several outs to improve. Moreno had the lead on the flop, but couldn't hold as Reknar improved to a flush to score the double elimination.
Day 3 action kicks off at 12:00pm Las Vegas local time on Level 24 of play with blinds at 10,000/25,000/25,000. The length of each blind level will increase to 75 minutes long and shot clocks will enter into play.
PokerStars is streaming the rest of the action on a thirty-minute delay, so be sure to follow along on the PokerOrg Instant feed.
NAPT Main Event top 10 chip stacks
| Place | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Anthony Dianaty | USA | 3,220,000 | 129 |
| 2 | Liran Betito | Israel | 1,885,000 | 75 |
| 3 | Nick Schulman | USA | 1,860,000 | 74 |
| 4 | Jonathan Borenstein | USA | 1,855,000 | 74 |
| 5 | Scott Ball | USA | 1,785,000 | 71 |
| 6 | Sergio Aido | Spain | 1,635,000 | 65 |
| 7 | Aditya Prasetyo | USA | 1,435,000 | 57 |
| 8 | Aaron Massey | USA | 1,425,000 | 57 |
| 9 | Timothy Rutherford | Canada | 1,305,000 | 52 |
| 10 | Ryan Yu | South Korea | 1,225,000 | 49 |
