Last night the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) stop at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut came to an end. The winner was a familiar face to the extent that they’re the only person to win this event. There will be calls for the NAPT to simply be renamed the SELBSTPT after the Team PokerStars Pro managed what no other person has ever done – two NAPT titles.
You add that they’re back-to-back and it makes the feat even more remarkable. Bluff Magazine also reported that no player has ever won the same event twice in the nine years that the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) has been running, let alone back-to-back. Then if you also consider that the EPT has never seen a two-time winner and you can see the buzz around Vanessa Selbst is entirely warranted.
In terms of the final table’s play, Selbst was even, at one point, the short stack amongst the final five players. She steadied the ship though and after entering heads-up with Dan Shak at a 1-3 disadvantage in the chip count the American brought home the $450k prize. Selbst can also state that she’s the only person to ever win the NAPT Mohegan Sun. The newly crowned Queen of live poker anyone?
The day’s other live poker final table came from the WPT Hollywood Poker Open in Indiana and it was a late one for all involved. It ended after an epic battle between the final three of William Reynolds, Mike Scarborough and Erik Seidel saw a new champion crowned at 2:30am.
It took Scarborough only 20 minutes of heads-up play with Seidel to shepherd the veteran to the door and claim his first major title. With it came $273,664, a WPT bracelet and a $25k seat at the WPT Championship. Seidel’s impressive year continued as he walked away with $155,103 as the runner up.
