The festival will feature a five-day Main Event with a US$5,000 buy-in. There will also be a broad range of fun and exciting side events catering to players of all bankroll levels.

So the NAPT is going back to the west coast to continue their series.  It was widely rumoured that an LA stop was a must, but the problem with the date is

1) It’s sooooo late, the wsop series is ending mid July (not including the final table).  Even if players take August off, what happened to stops in September or October?

2) This completely interferes with the British Columbia Poker Championships (BCPC) which usually runs during the same time period.  This puts dampers on the prospect of a 2010 North American Poker Tour stop in Canada.

Perhaps I am overlooking the fact that this is simply “a new” stop and not the next stop, then hopefully there will also be a Vancouver stop before or after NAPT Los Angeles or NAPT The Bike whatever this event will be nicknamed.

Seat 1: Joe Cassidy
Seat 2: Faraz Jaka
Seat 3: Peter Eastgate
Seat 4: Scott Seiver
Seat 5: Ashton Griffin
Seat 6: Hoyt Corkins
Seat 7: Brett Richey

Each final table participant was guaranteed a $75k bonus, and various bounty bonuses were still up for grabs.  The $25k Bounty Shootout will air on ESPN2 later this year.

1. Tom Marchese, USA, $827,648.00
2. Sam Stein, USA, $522,306.00
3. Daniel Clemente, USA, $309,366.00
4. Yunus Jamal, USA, $241,064.00
5. David Paredes, USA, $184,816.00
6. Thomas Fuller, USA, $144,639.00
7. Miami John Cernuto, USA, $104,461.00
8. Eric Blair, USA, PokerStars player, $60,266.00
9. Kyle Zartman, USA, $44,195.00
10. Andrew Lichtenberger, USA, $44,195.00
11. John Franciosi, USA, $34,151.00
12. Steve Billirakis, USA, $34,151.00
13. Andrew Chen, Canada, PokerStars player, $28,526.00
14. Joseph Cutler, USA, $28,526.00
15. David Miscikowski, USA, $23,303.00
16. Daniel Cossette, Canada, PokerStars player, $23,303.00
17. Mark Ketteringham, USA, $20,089.00
18. Steve Stolzmann, USA, PokerStars player, $20,089.00
19. Daniele Nestola, Germany, PokerStars player, $20,089.00
20. Blair Hinkle, USA, $20,089.00
21. Michael De Gilio, USA, $20,089.00
22. Jonathan Aguiar , USA, PokerStars player, $20,089.00
23. Jason Dewitt, USA, PokerStars player, $20,089.00
24. Christina Lindley, USA, $20,089.00
25. Vanessa Rousso, USA, Team PokerStars Pro, $18,080.00
26. Andy Seth, USA, $18,080.00
27. Blake Buffington, USA, $18,080.00
28. Steve O’Dwyer, USA, $18,080.00
29. Michael Binger, USA, $18,080.00
30. Tom Sinistaj, USA , PokerStars player, $18,080.00
31. Daniel Sindelar, USA, PokerStars player, $18,080.00
32. Cody Slaubaugh, USA, $18,080.00
33. Ravi Raghavan, USA, $16,071.00
34. Klaus Pautrot, France, $16,071.00
35. Jose Alboukrek, Mexico, $16,071.00
36. Joseph Cheong, USA, $16,071.00
37. Al Rogers, USA, $16,071.00
38. Naim Tahan, Netherlands, PokerStars player, $16,071.00
39. Karga Holt, USA, $16,071.00
40. Olivier Busquet, USA, $16,071.00
41. John O’Shea, Ireland, $14,866.00
42. Helen Martynov, USA, PokerStars player, $14,866.00
43. Dwyte Pilgrim, USA, $14,866.00
44. Robert Wisiak, USA, $14,866.00
45. Paul Villamizar, Canada, PokerStars player,$14,866.00
46. Joshua Fussner,USA, $14,866.00
47. Men Nguyen, USA, $14,866.00
48. Paul Evans, USA, $14,866.00
49. Danny Wong, USA, $13,660.00
50. Ted Lawson, USA, $13,660.00
51. Corey Hochman, USA, $13,660.00
52. Bruno Martin, France, PokerStars player, $13,660.00
53. Chuck Kelley, USA, $13,660.00
54. Fabrice Soulier, France, $13,660.00
55. Nam Le, USA, $13,660.00
56. Alexis Cordova, USA, $13,660.00
57. Patrick Carron, USA, PokerStars player, $12,857.00
58. Martin Medina, Mexico, $12,857.00
59. Daniel Abromson, USA, $12,857.00
60. Tommy Vu, USA,$12,857.00
61. Frank Calo, USA, $12,857.00
62. Mclean Karr, USA, PokerStars player, $12,857.00
63. Ludovic Schlama, France, $12,857.00
64. Brian Horton, USA, PokerStars player, $12,857.00
65. Dan Shak, USA, $12,053.00
66. Naohiko Yamazaki, Japan, $12,053.00
67. Russell Rosenblum, USA, $12,053.00
68. David Poces, USA, $12,053.00
69. Frank Traino, USA, PokerStars player, $12,053.00
70. Matt Marafioti, Canada, $12,053.00
71. Max Katz, Russia, $12,053.00
72. JeanFrancois Talbot, Canada, PokerStars player, $12,053.00
73. Joseph Williams, Canada, $11,250.00
74. Mark Muchnik, USA, $11,250.00
75. Matt Smith, USA, PokerStars player, $11,250.00
76. Chris Bell, USA, $11,250.00
77. Joe Weiss, USA, $11,250.00
78. Michael Botwin, USA, PokerStars player, $11,250.00
79. Justin Smith, $11,250.00
80. Philip Collins, USA, $11,250.00
81. Bill Chen, USA, Friend of PokerStars, $10,446.00
82. Christiano Ribeiro, Brazil, PokerStars player, $10,446.00
83. John Taitt, USA , $10,446.00
84. Anthony Grappo, USA, $10,446.00
85. Raffi King, USA, $10,446.00
86. Anselmo Villarreal, USA, $10,446.00
87. Jason Ramirez, USA, PokerStars player, $10,446.00
88. Daniel Makowsky, Switzerland, PokerStars player, $10,446.00
89. Robert Durante, Canada, PokerStars player, $9,643.00
90. Michael McNeil, USA, PokerStars player, $9,643.00
91. Mike Beasley, USA, $9,643.00
92. Kitty Kuo, Taiwan, $9,643.00
93. Steven Karp, USA, $9,643.00
94. Robert McLaughlin, USA, $9,643.00
95. Brett Richey, USA, $9,643.00
96. David Sayago, Spain, PokerStars player, $9,643.00
97. Jimmy Fricke, USA, $8,839.00
98. Dmitrii Valouev, USA, $8,839.00
99. Arnold Rychner, USA, PokerStars player, $8,839.00
100. Dan Alspach, USA, $8,839.00
101. Tom McEvoy, USA, Team PokerStars Pro, $8,839.00
102. Greg Raymer, USA, Team PokerStars Pro, $8,839.00
103. William Van Ormer, USA, $8,839.00
104. Lauren Kling, USA, PokerStars player, $8,839.00
105. John Bunch, USA, $8,035.00
106. Ben Stoesser, Germany, PokerStars player, $8,035.00
107. Bob Lauria, USA, PokerStars player, $8,035.00
108. Riccardo Conigliaro, Spain, PokerStars player, $8,035.00
109. Zelong Dong, USA , PokerStars player, $8,035.00
110. Jared Davis, Dutch Antilles, PokerStars player, $8,035.00
111. James Mackey, USA, PokerStars player, $8,035.00
112. Jimmie Caldwell, USA, $8,035.00
113. Andrew Robl, USA, $7,232.00
114. Justin Jones, USA, $7,232.00
115. Jason Glass, USA, PokerStars player, $7,232.00
116. Mike Coglianese, USA, $7,232.00
117. Donald Toporowski. Canada, $7,232.00
118. Geoffrey Ulrich, Canada, PokerStars player, $7,232.00
119. Ryan O’Connor, UK, PokerStars player, $7,232.00
120. Jonathan Tamayo, USA, PokerStars player, $7,232.00
121. Joshua Herman, Canada, PokerStars player, $7,232.00
122. Brian Smith, USA, PokerStars player, $7,232.00
123. John Michalak, USA, PokerStars player, $7,232.00
124. Jose Ceballos, Spain, PokerStars player,$7,232.00
125. Stewart Yancik, $7,232.00
126. Jon Turner, USA, $7,232.00
127. Steven Goosen, Canada, $7,232.00
128. Brion Maciel, USA, PokerStars player, $7,232.00

There is also a rumour that Amanda Leatherman will host the NAPT shows on ESPN2.  You may remember Amanda from WPT and PokerRoad fame.  So will they have a ESPN and a NAPT host?  (Joanna Krupa)

No word yet on where to watch NAPT in Canada yet.  Nothing else on the Canada NAPT front either, though there is a rumour that the WPT (World Poker Tour) will hold 2 events in Canada in 2010.  Go Party Poker.  Stay tuned.

Here is the current ESPN schedule:

April 19: Venetian $25,000 high-roller bounty shootout (9-11 pm. ET)
April 26: Venetian $25,000 high-roller bounty shootout (9 pm ET)
April 26: Venetian $5,000 main event (10 pm ET)
May 3: Mohegan Sun shootout (9-11 pm ET)
May 10: Mohegan Sun shootout (9 pm ET)
May 10: Mohegan Sun $5,000 main event (10 pm ET)
May 17: PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25,000 high-roller (9-11 pm ET)

When your morning begins looking into the eyes of Joanna Krupa, it’s pretty certain it’s going to be a good day. When she announces she is the host of a brand new PokerStars tour, you feel it might be a good month. When you learn that tour is going to hit places like Las Vegas’ Venetian and Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun, mark it down as a red letter year.

Just a few minutes ago, Krupa and PokerStars’ global events head Jeffrey Haas stood before the assembled media here at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and announced the formation of a brand new poker tour.

Officially, the 2010 PCA marks the first event of the North American Poker Tour. From here, the NAPT will head to the Venetian in Las Vegas. As many of you know, the Venetian is famous for its Deep Stack Extravaganza series. February 20-24, the main event of the Deep Stack Extravaganza will be a $5,000 NAPT event.

“I’m excited to play,” Daniel Negreanu told us this morning. “It’s going to be nice to have some events at home in Vegas.”

From there, the NAPT will head to the three million square feet of the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut for a 20-event poker festival in the spring with buy-ins ranging from $200 to $25,000. The $5,000 main event will run April 7-11.

Haas told us this morning that these are just the first events on the schedule and we should expect more announcements in the coming weeks and months.

“We are going to a lot of beautiful places and going to put on some great tournaments,” he said.

Haas and Krupa announce the NAPT

Like the EPT, APPT, LAPT, and other PokerStars tours before it, the NAPT will be supported by online PokeStars satellites to the main events. EPT creator John Duthie recalled this morning how humbly his tour began in Season 1 and how quickly it exploded with PokerStars’ support.

“I think the NAPT has a huge future,” Duthie said. “As a player, I am very excited.”

Haas said today that PokerStars has already signed up top television production company 441 (the same group that produces ESPN’s coverage of the WSOP) to produce a brand new NAPT series. What’s more, a television deal is in the works.

“We do have a first tier broadcast partner that will hopefully be announced in the next two weeks,” he said.

And of course, when the show hits television, it will be hosted by Ms. Krupa.

Stay tuned for more details, future NAPT dates, and how you can qualify online at PokerStars.

We’re proud to announce the NAPT. Our new North American Poker Tour kicks off in the Venetian in Las Vegas in February, more news to follow.

Mohegan Sun in April will be another stop on the tour.

Check out the pokerstars store to pickup your very own NAPT playing cards 

In the mean time, enjoy the WCOOP on Poker Stars in September .  The extreme WCOOP satellites are a hit, and extremely soft.

• Latin America Poker Tour (LAPT)
• European Poker Tour (EPT)
• Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT)
• Australia and New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT)
• Italian Poker Tour (IPT)
• PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA)

Schedule

The following information is subject to change. Keep a look out for more events being announced soon.

Right now the only way to satellite into NAPT events is through Poker Stars

They are holding satellites giving away $5,500 prize packages which can be used for North American Poker Tour events.  Also passport money may also be possibly used for NAPT packages, for SuperNova players.

Stay here for all the latest news regarding the North American Poker Tour, NAPT events, satellites to the NAPT …