Sam Stein Leads NAPT Venetian Final Table

Sam Stein hopes his second time on TV is the charm.

The main event at the NAPT Venetian has worked its way down to just eight players who have a chance at walking away with the hefty $827,648 first-place prize. There may not be any major household names at the final table, but don’t let that fool you into thinking there aren’t any pros in the lineup.

Topping the chip count with just eight players remaining is Sam Stein, who was last seen taking second place in a $5,000 preliminary event at the PCA for $168,390. Last year he also made the TV table of the WPT Legends of Poker, finishing in sixth place behind eventual winner Prahlad Friedman. Between live tournaments and online play as “KINGKOBEMVP” he has four career tournament wins and $807,090 in earnings, and with the biggest stack at the table he should be able to dictate terms to his tablemates.

Lurking right behind him in the standings is another man familiar only to those who have followed the live tournament circuit closely for the last few years. Thomas Fuller has earned $614,433 in live events since 2005, including 12 WSOP cashes and numerous final table appearances on the WSOP Circuit, the European Poker Tour, and at the Aussie Millions. Despite all that success the Colorado native has no tournament wins on his resume, so he should have extra focus as he tries to get that monkey off his back.

But the most accomplished of all the players at the table, three-time WSOP bracelet winner “Miami” John Cernuto, is the one occupying the final spot on the leaderboard. Almost universally respected throughout the poker community, Cernuto has earnings of nearly $4.8 million. Cernuto has never won more than $522,000 in a single year despite his impressive track record, so if he can make it to heads-up play at today’s final table he will already have booked the most successful year of a tournament poker career that is now entering its fourth decade.

Here are the overnight chip counts for the NAPT Venetian final table, which begins at 2 p.m. PT today:

Sam Stein  6,145,000

Thomas Fuller  4,735,000

David Paredes  4,700,000

Yunus Jamal  3,940,000

Tom Marchese  2,370,000

Eric Blair  1,690,000

Daniel Clemente  1,345,000

“Miami” John Cernuto  1,300,000