February 19 2011, Dave Behr

Chile’s Alex Manzano turned into a set-flopping machine at the end of Day 2 of the 2011 PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour São Paulo Main Event to seize the overnight chip lead. His 1,189,000 in chips will lead the remaining field of 24 players when they return for Day 3 on Saturday.

Manzano played well in the early and middle stages of play, using selective aggression to steadily chip up. Then his run-good kicked into overdrive, as he flopped sets in rapid succession to eliminate three players. First off the plank was Alexis Zervos, against whom Manzano flopped top set and then faded a flush draw. Zervos was soon joined on the rail by Neuri Jose Campos, who got it in pre-flop with ace-king against Manzano’s pocket queens (set on the flop for Manzano). Finally, in perhaps the run-best of them all, João Torres got it all in for about 500,000 preflop with pocket kings against Manzano’s pocket fours. A four on the flop meant all smiles for Manzano.

Although Manzano is at the head of the class with 1,189,000 in chips, he has a few excellent competitors barely trailing him who also played great poker on Day 2. The aforementioned João Bauer is next in line with 1,089,000 in chips, thanks in no small part to a pot worth about 800,000 chips in which his pocket kings out-flopped Marcelo Andrade’s pocket aces, all in preflop. Bauer used that bit of luck to then apply maximum pressure to his table for the remainder of the day.

Right behind Bauer is Day 1 chip leader Leandro Csome. Csome put on a big-stack clinic on the bubble of the tournament by constantly putting his shorter-stacked competitors to the test for all of their chips. He raised preflop. He re-raised preflop. He bet, raised and reraised on the flop. He almost never slowed down while the rest of his table waited for the bubble to burst. Csome flirted with 1,000,000 in chips late in the day before ultimately settling at 959,000.

Rounding out the top five are Bruno Foster (766,000) and Amos Ben Haim (687,000). Also still alive and returning tomorrow are Team PokerStars Pro (Costa Rica) Humberto Brenes (601,000) and Daniela Zapiello (235,000), a previous LAPT final tablist and the only woman remaining in the field.

On Saturday the remaining 24 players will return at 1:00 PM local time to play down to a final table of eight. The top prize is worth R$615,840 and everyone remaining has locked up at least R$14,350. Be sure to check out the Day 3 table and seat draw in order to find the positions and stacks of every player left in the field. As always, you can find all of the live updates on PokerNews.

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2010 December 23, Elaine Chaivarlis

With as cold as it is outside and everything and everyone going into hibernation, we figured we’d better do the same thing. It’s the last Nightly Turbo of the year, but don’t get discouraged, we’re putting up the top ten stories of the year starting tomorrow to refresh your memory. We’d like to thank you for reading and coming back day after day. We do this all for you — really. Enough of that, we don’t want you so teary eyed that you start thinking the four of spades is the ace of clubs. What’s perfect is that we’re leaving you with a photo of a pretty lady who knows how to win, the nominees of the World Poker Tour Magazine awards, and more. See you next year, same time, same place!

In Case You Missed It

Is the continuation bet in your arsenal of poker tricks? It should be, and PartyPoker pro Bodo Sbrzesny tells you why in our latest strategy article.

Every week, Lynn Gilmartin makes us jealous with her photos and stories from her trips — and this week is no different. Check out Around the World with Lynn for a sneak peek at season four of the PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour.

Were you railing the PokerStars 1/4 Million last night, but had to go to sleep and didn’t get to see the winner? We’ve got the results of that and more of the week’s tournaments in the Midweek Briefing.

Do you listen to the Matt & Matt Show every week but want to know more about the guys behind the show? Well, here’s your chance. Read Getting to Know Matt Parvis and Matt Brown of the Matt & Matt Show to find out more.

Felicidades!

Last woman standing at the 2009 World Series of Poker, 888 ambassador Leo Margets took down the Full Tilt Poker Masters Series at the Grand Casino in Barcelona last week. She took home €100,000 for the win in which she beat beat 31 of Spain’s best players who had qualified for the event.

The tournament was a three-day event that covered a range of poker disciplines including deepstack, shootout, and turbo tournaments.

Check out the press release for more.

WPT Magazine Awards

World Poker Tour Magazine is holding a reader’s choice award (which is a little different from Bluff Magazine’s — the one Gloria Balding is nominated in – go vote). So, the categories are Favorite British Player, Best International Player, Best Poker Personality, Best Online Player, Best UK Cardroom, Best International Cardroom, Best Online Room, Best Online Forum, Moment of 2010, and Outstanding Contribution to Poker.

We’d go through the nominees, but that would make this way too long. Voting is currently open and will remain open through February 1, 2011, with the results being announced in the March issue of World Poker Tour Magazine.

Go vote at WPTMag.co.uk.

Reserve Not Met

Last week in the Nightly Turbo, we told you about 1991 World Series of Poker Main Event winner Brad Daugherty who was selling his bracelet on eBay. Well, that auction has ended, and if there was a lucky buyer, we’d tell you who it was. The undisclosed reserve on the bracelet was not met; therefore, the last bidder, who was going to shell out $30,100 for the 14k gold bracelet won’t be doing so.

Raise it Up

Some of the biggest online gambling companies in the world are headquartered in Gibraltar. It sounds random when you think about it, but a one percent gaming tax up to a maximum €500,000 charge is quite the incentive. However, all that will change come January 2011.

With the new year comes a corporation tax hike of 10 percent. Gibraltar is trying to keep its tax regime in line with EU regulations on fair competition. Some companies on the island are currently paying the 10 percent tax, but some of the companies that have been on the island longer are paying the lower tax rate.

“We’ve known about this for some time, and we’ve factored it in,” Partygaming spokesperson John Shepherd said. “The tax is still going to be very low.” He also doesn’t think the tax hike would deter other companies from setting up operations in Gibraltar.

The Telegraph has more.

Happy Holidays!

And because there’s nothing like a good light show….

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Just a minimum deposit is required of new players to qualify for our final $2,770 Freeroll of 2010 with Poker770 next week.