Meet the Final Table of the 2024 NAPT Las Vegas Main Event

The second edition of NAPT Las Vegas is quickly winding towards a close, with the $5,300 Main Event set to crown a champion on Sunday afternoon at Resorts World. The final six players have all tasted major live tournament successes across a wide spectrum of buy-ins and events, and with $765,200 awaiting the champion each has their eyes on another career milestone.

Englishman Nick Marchington holds a comfortable chip lead with six players remaining. Marchington made a run at becoming the youngest ever WSOP Main Event champion in 2019 when he made the final table at 21 years old, and he’ll be after the biggest win of his career to date. Right behind him is Jeff Madsen, who also made a lot of noise at the age of 21 when he won two WSOP bracelets and WSOP Player of the Year honors in 2006.

Joel Micka, who will start Sunday’s action in third place, narrowly missed out on a PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event win in 2013 and is also chasing a signature career win.

Behind Micka is a name World Poker Tour fans will find most familiar in Curt Kohlberg. Over the last 18 years Kohlberg has followed the WPT all over the world, made four WPT final tables and sits just outside the top 10 for most career Main Tour cashes. He’ll be after the biggest win and cash of his career in this NAPT Las Vegas Main Event.

Marco Johnson will begin Sunday in fifth place, and while the two-time WSOP bracelet winner primarily thrives in mixed games, he’s also found significant success in No Limit Hold’em events.

Rounding out this final table as the short stack is Masato Yokosawa, one of the biggest poker vloggers in the world and a WPT Champions Club member.

Action is set to resume on Sunday afternoon at 12:30 at Resorts World Las Vegas, with cards-up streaming coverage starting at 1 p.m. on PokerStars’ streaming platforms.

Ahead of this NAPT Las Vegas final table, there’s more to learn about each of the six remaining contenders.

Stats and biographical information courtesy of The Hendon Mob and PokerStars Blog.

Nick Marchington – 9,990,000 (100 BB)

Age: 26
London, England
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $2,524,865
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $1,525,000, 7th, 2019 WSOP Main Event
Other Notable Results: $185,895, 1st, 2024 GUKPT Coventry £1,500 UK Open; $109,204, 5th, 2019 EPT Barcelona €10,300 No Limit Hold’em; $108,704, 9th, 2022 WSOP Millionaire Maker

During the 2019 WSOP, Nick Marchington made his first poker trip to the United States and, despite being just a year into his professional career navigated all the way to the final table of the WSOP Main Event.

While he fell a few spots short of unseating Joe Cada as the youngest WSOP by finishing seventh, he won $1.525 million and launched his poker career. On Sunday, he has his eyes on finishing the job this time around.

Marchington took control of the chip lead on Day 3 of the NAPT Las Vegas main event and wielded it masterfully, pushing himself well out in front of his five remaining competitors. Marchington has over 37 percent of the total chips in play and nearly twice as many as his nearest competitor.

End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1:  30,000 (259/285)
Day 2:  494,000 (19/75)
Day 3: 975,000 (13/18)

Jeff Madsen – 5,585,000 (56 BB)

Age: 39
Las Vegas, Nevada
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $6,498,939
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $660,948, 1st, 1006 WSOP $2,000 No Limit Hold’em
Other Notable Results: $643,381, 1st, 2006 WSOP $5,000 6-Max No Limit Hold’em; $625,006, 1st, 2010 Borgata Winter Poker Open $3,500 Championship; $384,420, 1st, 2013 WSOP $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha; $301,413, 1st, 2015 WSOP $3,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

Few players made as drastic and as immediate an impression in poker as Jeff Madsen did the summer he turned 21. Less than a month after his birthday, Madsen began an incredible run at the 2006 WSOP. He won two massive field No Limit Hold’em events for a combined $1.3 million and added two third-place finishes in mixed game events to lock down 2006 WSOP Player of the Year honors, setting a record as the youngest such player that will be hard for anyone to break.

Madsen has subsequently won two additional WSOP bracelets in the intervening years as well as a pair of WPT Championship event final tables.

In this NAPT Las Vegas Main Event, Madsen found himself in the middle of the pack for much of the event until making a serious run towards the top on Day 3. Despite having Marchington on his left, Madsen navigated some tough spots and ultimately pushed himself up into a clear second place by eliminating Brock Wilson in 7th place to bring play on Saturday night to an end.

End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 95,000 (100/285)
Day 2: 297,000 (39/75)
Day 3: 1,895,000 (5/18)

Joel Micka – 4,475,000 (45 BB)

Age: 36
Everett, Washington
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $1,670,437
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $1,190,000, 2nd, 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event
Other Notable Results: $148,993, 2nd, 2008 LAPT San Jose Main Event

In 2008, Joel Micka, then 18 years old, won a satellite to the 2008 LAPT San Jose Main Event and mistakenly thought he was heading to California rather than Costa Rica. He still made the most of that opportunity, though, finishing second for almost $150,000.

When Black Friday hit, Micka joined a number of other high volume online poker players who moved to Thailand together, and it was during that period of time that Micka earned the biggest cash of his career – $1.19 million – for a second place finish in the 2013 PCA Main Event.

On Sunday, Micka is hoping that his third shot at a significant live poker title will end one spot higher on the pay table, breaking through to win the 2024 NAPT Las Vegas Main Event.

Micka also made a charge on Day 4 of this NAPT Las Vegas Main Event, after spending long stretches of this tournament among the shortest stacks. Pocket queens were kind as Micka made his climb, as that hand allowed him to eliminate both Maria Konnikova (14th) and Matt Affleck (8th).

End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 43,000 (226/285)
Day 2: 250,000 (45/75)
Day 3: 890,000 (14/18)

Curt Kohlberg – 3,290,000 (33 BB)

Age: 66
Weston, Massachusetts
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $3,735,808
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $586,109, 2nd, 2011 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Other Notable Results: $286,292, 5th, 2014 WPT World Championship; $199,283, 5th, 2009 WPT Foxwoods Poker Finals; $112,425, 5th, 2005 WPT Grand Prix de Paris; $111,786, 7th, 2008 WSOP $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Rebuy

If you’ve ever attended a World Poker Tour event as a player or a fan, chances are high that you’ve seen Curt Kohlberg. Over the last two decades, Kohlberg has played most of the WPT Main Tour stops and made several serious runs at titles. 

Back in Season IX, Kohlberg got heads up with Taylor Von Kriegenbergh for the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown title before settling for second, earning a career-best $586,109. Kohlberg’s also made WPT final tables at Borgata, Foxwoods and the Aviation Club de France.

Kohlberg’s chances at this NAPT Las Vegas Main Event final table were looking bleak late on Day 4, until the kind of triple up most players dream about, as his pocket queens drew a call from Madsen with ace-queen and a shove from Marchington with pocket jacks. Kohlberg’s hand held up, and he was suddenly thrust from a pack of short stacks directly into the thick of the title race.

End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 124,000 (55/285)
Day 2: 177,000 (59/75)
Day 3: 1,150,000 (10/18)

Marco Johnson – 2,475,000 (25 BB)

Age: 35
Walnut Creek, California
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $4,307,364
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $491,273, 2nd, 2008 WSOP $2,000 No Limit Hold’em
Other Notable Results: $262,300, 35th, 2022 WSOP Main Event; $259,730, 1st, 2016 WSOP $3,000 HORSE; $223,194, 2nd, 2021 WSOP $10,000 HORSE; $206,796, 1st, 2013 WSOP $2,500 Limit Hold’em

Marco Johnson has lived a fascinating poker career. He’s established himself as one of the strongest mixed game tournament players in the world, winning two WSOP bracelets in non-No Limit Hold’em events, along with four second-place finishes in WSOP bracelet events. He’s won PokerStars WCOOP titles and made deep runs in the WSOP Main Event. Johnson was also indirectly involved in one of the most notorious poker cheating scandals of all time, as his final table experience and subsequent hand history against an account called “POTRIPPER” ultimately helped the scandal on UltimateBet and AbsolutePoker come to light.

For all of his many accomplishments, winning the 2024 NAPT Las Vegas Main Event would represent the largest live tournament cash of Johnson’s career. He’ll be on a short stack to start play on Sunday, but his spin-up and survival on a short stack throughout Day 4 of this tournament point towards a considerable comfortability in navigating that position.

End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 129,500 (44/285)
Day 2: 128,000 (67/75)
Day 3: 760,000 (17/18)

Masato Yokosawa – 1,085,000 (11 BB)

Age: 31
Tokyo, Japan
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $1,652,454
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $188,400, 45th, 2023 WSOP Main Event
Other Notable Results: $172,996, 3rd, 2023 EPT Barcelona €2,700 No Limit Hold’em; $167,947, 5th, 2020 Aussie Millions $25K Challenge; $100,000, 1st, WPT South Korea Main Event

Masato Yokosawa has positioned himself as one of the most popular poker vloggers in the world, as the Japanese pro currently boasts 932,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. He became a member of the WPT Champions Club in 2013, winning WPT Korea, and over the last few years Yokosawa has dedicated himself to traveling the world and chasing major poker titles as his dedicated crew records all of the action.

Yokosawa won a Global Poker Award for Poker Personality in 2022 and further thrust himself into the poker consciousness with a deep run in the 2023 WSOP Main Event.

Yokosawa started making his run towards the NAPT Las Vegas Main Event final table on Day 2, bagging the chip lead on Thursday night and carrying those chips steadily through Friday and part of Saturday’s action. It was looking fairly bleak for Yokosawa with 10 players left, but he doubled his last three big blinds with through Marchington and then got enough shoves through uncalled to survive and preserve his chance for a major comeback on Sunday.

End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 142,000 (34/285)
Day 2: 845,000 (1/75)
Day 3: 1,225,000 (9/18)