February 18 2012, Donnie Peters

Saturday marked another day of action in São Paulo, Brazil, for the 2012 PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour Grand Final. Day 2 had 107 players return to action and at the end of play, just 24 remained. Topping the final three tables was Caio Cesar Pimenta with 607,000 in chips.

There were plenty of notable players remaining in the field on Day 2, but perhaps none more notable than “Kid Poker,” Daniel Negreanu. The Team PokerStars Pro and four-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner entered the day as one of the top stacks. At the bag-and-tag portion of the day, Negreanu was found stuffing 398,000 in chips in his bag – plenty to work with from here on out.

With 107 players returning and just 48 cashing, that meant plenty of the competitors would go home without anything to show for their efforts. After many headed out the door short of a cash including Nacho Barbero, Jorge Periera and Bill Gazes, 49 players were left and it was time for the bubble.

Local superstar Felipe Ramos was crippled just before the bubble started in a hand against Vincenzo Giannelli. With just 7,000 in chips left, Ramos was all-in on the next hand following his big loss. Again, he was up against Giannelli and in some bad shape. Ramos was all-in with , up against Giannelli’s . After the board ran out , Ramos was felted and officially ended the tournament as the bubble boy.

After Ramos fell, it was time for half of the remaining field to exit before calling it a night. Some of those players to exit in the money were 2011 WSOP Europe Main Event winner Elio Fox, Team PokerStars’ Leo Fernandez and Patrick Mahoney. Mahoney’s bustout came on the most exciting hand of the tournament against Negreanu.

After Pimenta opened to 10,500 with the blinds at 2,500/5,000/500, Negreanu called from the cutoff seat and action folded to Mahoney in the big blind. He three-bet to 36,500 and that knocked Pimenta out of the way. Negreanu called and the two saw a flop of .

On the flop, Mahoney fired 38,000 and Negreanu called. The was added to the board on the turn and both players checked to see the land on the river. After Mahoney checked, Negreanu bet 77,000. His bet was met with an all-in raise from Mahoney worth 197,500. Negreanu tanked and tanked, but eventually made the call with for two pair. Mahoney held only for ace high and was eliminated in the pot worth around half a million in chips.

Besides Negreanu and Pimenta, some of the other notables still in the field include Humberto Brenes, Mayu Roca Uribe, Carlos Ibarra and Felipe Morbiducci. Last year in the LAPT São Paulo Main Event, Brenes took 15th place and is not far away from topping that performance this year. He’ll enter Day 3 with 51,000 in chips – short, but still alive.

The remaining players will be returning to the ballroom tomorrow at 1200 BRST (1400 GMT) to battle it out for one of the eight spots of the final table. PokerNews will be on hand for all of the live coverage, which you won’t want to miss. Stay tuned to our Live Reporting Team for all of the updates.

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