The Faces of the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) in Las Vegas

Last Friday kicked off the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.

The event marked the launch of PokerStars.net’s latest tour. 872 players entered the tournament; each kicking in $5,000 for the  no-limit hold’em tournament and  a chance to win the first-place prize of more than $827,000.

With a total of 89 playing tables, the NAPT pulled in such legendary poker pros as Joe Cada, Daniel, Negreanu, Joe Hachem, Chris Moneymaker, and Scotty Nguyen.  (That’s him in the photo! He’s that guy you see every time you turn on late night poker on TV.)

In January, your trusty True/Slant reporter covered PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas. The tournament resulted with 19 year-old Harrison Gimbel walking away with $2.2 million. (A pretty damn good day not at the office for a teenager.) As I learned, NAPT was a good healthy mix of the old poker playing guard and the new Internet whiz-kid generation.

Though this is the NAPT’S first stop (next up is Mohegan Sun in Connecticut), there’s always familiar poker faces to be found at every tournament; be it Las Vegas, Monte Carlo, the Bahamas, etc… Professional poker players aren’t really known for their snazzy attire (basically they dress like they’ve just gotten off a bus). Those adorned in the standard poker playing uniform were found on hand to bluff, bet, and beat their opponents in order to make it to the prized final table.

Let’s explore a few of our favorite poker types at the NAPT…….

Like most poker tournaments, at the NAPT you’ll find  more guys in sunglasses than at a beach in Bermuda. Is it because their future is so bright they have to wear shades? Or is it because they don’t want to look like a deer caught in headlights as they try to hide those crazy eyes and the dead look of fear when going up against such stoic greats as Greg “Fossilman” Raymer? Are shades the first thing to be adopted when making the leap from Internet tables to live tables?

Just looking around at the NAPT players, one would almost think that the poker industry was actually started by the sunglasses  industry to boost sales as this table of three shaded- ones would attest:

I think sunglasses wearing must be taught in Poker Playing 101.

Taking it one step further is the sunglasses/headphone guy. Not only does this poker-face-player not want anyone at his table to be able to read him, but he also wants to make sure if anyone tries to talk to him, he wont be able to hear them.

What’s this player listening to on his headphones to get into the zone? Is it Introduction To Learning Greek so if he doesn’t make the final table he’ll at least have a second language to fall back on?

Here’s a player who seems to like the look of headphones around his head but he doesn’t necessarily like the sound of “music”  while playing. (Or the Rosetta Stone Greek language lesson series for that matter.)

Still the prize for the mother-of-all-poker-playing-headphones had to go to Teddy “The Iceman” Monroe. Poker tournaments are all about big personalities, and nothing says “big personality” more than having diamond encrusted headphones with your name spelt out on the back. It’s very impressive bling to intimidate opponents or simply to have on hand to throw into the pot when the chips are down. (Just kidding Mr. Iceman; you are a huge, huge, guy and I’d hate to have you  give my head the squeeze play.)

Also popular at NAPT was the classic hooded Unibomber look. There were many variations: sunglasses, no sunglasses, or simply a hoody  over yet another hat. Why the hoody anyway? Are these guys expecting a hand so hot that it’s going to set off the casino’s fire sprinklers?

It seemed the better players at NAPT threw aside the novelty accessories and focused on the game. For some reason, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer chose not wear his signature hologram sunglasses during the tournament; they simply laid alongside his mounting stack of chips. In regard to long sessions at the table, Raymer quipped: “You can’t hold your bladder for 2 1/2 hours.”

Speaking of faces of poker, what would be a major tournament without Vanessa Rousso at a table with a large stack of chips in front of her? Having interviewed her at the PCA in the Bahamas, I asked her handler if I could get a few words with wonderful VR. Being a popular woman on the poker circuit, he scheduled an interview time for me later in the evening, somewhere between their time walking from the poker table to the elevator–if I was lucky. (Sigh.) Oh well.

Getting a table massage by a beautiful woman was also the rage at NAPT. I believe it shows that one is a really relaxed player after spending hours on end sitting at a table holding cards and throwing chips into the pot. Naturally that’s going to cause a lot of shoulder stress, and at times, hand stress:

This player below seemed to take it one step further by playing the game while mounted on an elaborate head rest. But he can certainly do that being he’s Daniel “Kid Poker “Negreanu–one of the top players in the game.  With four World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour Championship titles, Negreanu is ranked second in all-time career earnings. When you are this good at the game you could practically sit at the table and play barefooted while sporting a belly shirt and no one will say anything about it.

Eating at the poker is also an unconventional habit. Note the player downing shrimp cocktails between hands. Other tournament play can go on till 5am in the morning–thus you need to eat when you can. But at the NAPT they changed the tournament rules to make them more player friendly by having each day of play end promptly at 9pm. Still it’s hard to resist those delicious shrimp cocktails at the Venetian hotel.

Even Seinfeld’s  Jason Alexander couldn’t help to munch on a salad at the poker table. TV’s George Costanza dug into his plate during NAPT’s celebrity poker tournament for Three Squares charity. Do you need more croutons? That’s soooo George.

Finally, when at the NAPT always remember to be safe at the poker table; accidents could happen.

You don’t want to blow an arm out by tossing in your cards too early, or throw out a shoulder by hurling too many chips into the pot in an act of aggressive play. So be careful out there at the NAPT and don’t stay in with a pocket 2 & 7–it could result in a fatal arm injury.