The PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) is finishing up its 7th season, and after nearly 100 tournaments the tour has yet to crown a two-time champion; compare this to another PokerStars tour –a much newer one—the NAPT, which after a grand total of four tournaments has just crowned its first repeat winner in the form of Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst, as she captured the NAPT Mohegan Sun title for the second straight year.
Selbst had some competition for the honor as another former NAPT winner was also at the final table, 2010 Los Angeles winner Joe Tehan. But when Tehan was eliminated in 6th place, and with Selbst firing on all cylinders it looked like she was destined to put her name in the NAPT history books.
Even after Dan Shak took a sizable chip lead over Selbst and Tyler Kenney during three-handed play the smart money was still on Selbst, who is gaining a reputation as one of the best closers in poker. After Kenney’s elimination Selbst was able to pull even with a river re-raise, only to drop back down the very next hand as Shak flopped quad Kings!
Soon after Selbst was able to take command of the match when her flopped set of Kings dominated Shak’s KQ, and from there Dan Shak experienced the slow methodical grinding down of his stack by Selbst who would go on to win the $450,000 in first-place prize-money, while the former multi-million dollar hedge fund manager would have to settle for the $254,000 awarded to the runner-up.
Here is a look at the complete final table payouts from the NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event:
- Vanessa Selbst — $450,000
- Dan Shak — $254,000
- Tyler Kenney — $170,000
- Thomas Hoglund Jr. — $120,000
- Vincent Rubianes — $90,000
- Joe Tehan — $70,000
- Aaron Overton –$50,000
- Steve O’Dwyer — $32,330
Selbst now has a very impressive resume for a player who has been on the tour since around 2006. Selbst has an Open WSOP bracelet to her credit, the two PokerStars NAPT wins, and a $1.3 million payday for winning the Partouche Poker Tour Grand Finale last year. Not to mention being an instructor at Deuces Cracked as well as a member of Team PokerStars Pro! Clearly, whenever the discussion turns to the best tournament player in the world Selbst should rate at or near the top of anyone’s list, male or female.
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Written by Steve Ruddock on April 14th, 2011