The final table of the North American Poker Tour Venetian US$5,000 Main Event has a mix of internet youngsters and Vegas veterans, with one legendary name still clinging to a chance at the US$827,600 first prize. Sam Stein has vaulted from the mundane world of $5/$10 no-limit Texas Holdem games in local casinos to the top of the leader board with over six million chips.

This makes the third major final table Stein has made in less than six months. Last month, he finished second at the US$5,000 buy-in PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event, taking home US$168,390. Last August, he made his first World Poker Tour televised final table when he finished fifth at the Legends of Poker in Los Angeles, which eared him US$116,225. He also guarantees a payday of at least US$60,000 from this tournament, but the odds are good he’ll bring home much more.

Stein also has a 1.4 million chip lead on his closest competitor, Tom Fuller, with New Yorker David Paredes close behind. One notable name making a final table appearance is poker legend “Miami” John Cernuto. Cernuto comes in as the short stack with 1.3 million chips, just behind Daniel Clemente in seventh position with 1.35 million. While Cernuto has cashed in several smaller events, he has not appeared at a major TV final table in more than five years.

Eric Blair, the Day 4 chip leader, suffered a series of losses but survived to the final table. He sits in sixth place with 1.69 million chips.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 9:07 pm and is filed under Casino news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.