March 21 2012, Chad Holloway

Season 5 of the PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour kicked off on Wednesday at the Enjoy Casino & Resort in Vina del Mar, Chile. This marked the third time the LAPT had visited the “Vineyard by the Sea,” and the second time since 2010 when a tragic earthquake forced the cancellation of the event.

Last year, a massive field of 621 players took to the felt, constituting the largest LAPT event in history up until that point. Brazilian Murilo Figueredo won that event for $146,000 and set the stage for this year’s highly anticipated tournament.

Day 1a ended up drawing players from as far away as the United States, New Zealand and Australia, who combined with the hundreds of players from South America to form a world-class tournament. When registration closed, the official number of players was 284, a number that ought to be eclipsed by Day 1b’s field. In fact, officials and players alike are waiting with bated breath to see if 338 register, which would surpass last year’s total.

Day 1a kicked off with a bang as Daniela Horno, who finished in sixth place in this very event last year, got off to a quick start and established herself as the early chip leader. In one of her more significant hands, a player in middle position limped and was met with a raise to 1,450 by Horno in late position. The big blind then brought it in for a three-bet to 4,000 and the limper got out of the way. The details are sketchy at that point as the action happened so fast, but the big blind ended up all in preflop for around 20,000.

Showdown

Horno was in a dominating spot, though the flop gave her opponent some hope and he began calling for a jack. Unfortunately for him, and much to Horno’s delight, neither the turn nor river were a jack. With that, Horno eliminated her opponent and took down the massive pot, bringing her stack to over 60,000.

Horno continued to climb, throughout the day, and ended with 122,200. That was a big stack, but not nearly as big as the chip leader, Waldermar Barrientos, who bagged up 140,300. Other players who advanced to Day 2 included twin brothers Luis Perez (59,300) and Carlos Perez (36,700); former LAPT final tablist Brent Sheirbon (56,100) and reigning LAPT Player of the Year Pablo Gonzalez (32,500).

Unfortunately not everyone was so lucky. A plethora of notables hit the rail throughout the ten levels of play including James Honeybone, Jonathan Markovits, Brian Gitter, Stuart McDonald, Rodrigo Arguello, Jamie Atelenoff and Team PokerStars Pros Freddy Torres (Online) and Leo Fernandez (Argentina).

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team didn’t catch Fernandez’s elimination during Level 8, but were later told that he had moved all in from late position for around 19,000 after an under-the-gun player had opened with a raise. Claudio Lopez then made the call while the original raiser got out of the way. Fernandez rolled over , which was way behind Lopez’s . The board ran out king high and the Team Pro made his way to the rail.

Not long after, Fernandez’s tablemate, Julian Menendez, followed him out the door. It happened when a player in middle position opened to 2,000, Menendez three-bet to 5,500 from the cutoff, the button and blinds both folded, the original raiser called and the flop fell . It was checked to Menendez who took about 30 seconds before announcing he was all in (for roughly 29,000). His opponent snap-called and tabled for ace high with the nut flush draw.

Menendez had outs, but trailed with . Unfortunately for him, he found no help from the turn or river and the Season 4 LAPT Colombia champion was eliminated from the tournament.

Joining Barrientos and Horno toward the top of the chip counts are Jaime Farriol (128,300), Sebastian Rios (126,200) and Carlos Munoz (124,100).

End of Day 1a Chip Counts

The 89 remaining players will return on Friday for Day 2, and a whole new set of players will take their seats at 1200 CLST (0800 PDT)for Day 1b. Of course you can follow all the action right here on PokerNews as we patrol the floors of the Enjoy Casino & Resort for all the latest and greatest poker action.

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February 20 2012, Eric Ramsey

Season 4 of the PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour concluded this week with Daniele Nestola taking home the title. The timing for the Grand Final in Brazil could not have been better. In a country that needs no excuse for a party, there’s no better excuse for a party than Carnival, and it arrived alongside the Grand Final in full confetti and papier-mache regalia. It’s the biggest week of the year on the Brazilian calendar, and it came paired with the nation’s most prestigious poker tournament. A total of 367 players paid 4,000 reais apiece for a ticket to LAPT São Paulo, and the four-day event culminated in Monday’s final table.

The marriage of poker and party brought notables from as far away as Canada and Northern Europe, and the temptations were even enough to lure Daniel Negreanu to play. His influence has spread far south of the equator, and his presence alone put a notable mark on Brazilian poker. Luckily enough for fans gathered ringside, Negreanu was chatty and playing mostly fantastic poker, and he picked his way all the way through the field and into the final eight.

Daniele Nestola began the final table as the big stack and wasted no time wielding that in a pot that ended the run of Argentina’s Juan Gonzalez. They were playing 12,000/24,000/3,000 when there was a raise and a flat-call in front of Nestola’s small blind and decided to squeeze in a reraise from 54,000 to 148,000. In the big blind, Gonzalez four-bet shoved for 549,000 holding . The other two players folded out of the way, but Nestola called with , and the race was on. The board ran , and the early quads were the first sign that the day would belong to Nestola. Gonzalez was the first player to fall in his wake, earning R$26,340 for eighth place.

The final Brazilian fell in seventh place when Vitor Torres lost the last of his chips. He’s an imposing man at the table, but his short stack found him shoving into Felipe Morbiducci’s . The flop was not at all good news for the native and was awarded R$35,560 as he left the stage to a warm ovation.

Negreanu was down in the realm of 20 to 25 big blinds as the blinds went up in the second level of the day and made it clear that he was playing for the win. Unfortunately, his first bid for a double went afoul at the hands of Carlos Ibarra. Negreanu was the preflop raiser, and Ibarra called in late position to go heads-up to the flop. When it came , Negreanu continued out for 102,000. Ibarra wanted to play for 300,000 though, and his raise effectively put “Kid Poker” to a decision for all his chips. Negreanu had 575,000 left behind, and he chatted up Ibarra a bit before committing with . Ibarra had been working with though, and Negreanu was two cards from the exit. The turn and river were no use, and Negreanu’s sixth-place consolation prize was R$48,730.

That put Ibarra within striking distance of Nestola’s chip-leading stack, and the two men traded spots a couple of times before Nestola really began to turn the screws. He found the same Ibarra had used to tally a knockout of his own, and it earned him the bounty of Ecuador’s Jonathan Markovits. The latter stuck his short stack in with the respectable , but he could not overcome Nestola’s rockets, leaving in fifth place with R$64,540.

Morbiducci, from Chile, was the next to run aground at Nestola’s expense when the two got it in with and respectively. Morbiducci had his tournament momentarily extended by the flop, but the turn drew Nestola right back into the lead. The river was the , and the blank sent the first of two Chileans off to the exit in fourth place with R$89,570.

Gaspernio Nicolas had been biding his time as the price of poker had been growing, and he really began to mount a charge during three-handed play. He overtook Nestola briefly, but his time at the top was short-lived. Nestola once again found those friendly in a big pot against Nicolas, and the Nestola’s chip lead began to grow once again as he knocked his opponent down a notch.

Nicolas managed to take care of Ibarra, the other Chilean, in third place, but he was still facing an uphill battle. Ibarra’s elimination came when he bluff-shoved his short stack with on a flop. Nicolas’ was good enough to send him on his way, and he earned the first six-figure payout with a check for R$148,840 and a respectable third-place result.

Nestola and Nicolas agreed to chop R$500,000 of the remaining prize pool in half and play for the remaining R$39,300, and it didn’t take long at all for Nestola to claim that remainder and the trophy. The heads-up battle was short and lopsided, and it was a seemingly innocent limped pot that ended the day. Nicolas flopped top pair with on the , and Nestola called a bet with his drawing at the open-ender. The came right on fourth street, and the rest of the money got in right there. Nicolas was already drawing dead to the river, and he took a quarter-million Reais back home to Venezuela with him.

From start to finish, the whole tournament took just over four hours, and Nestola was likely headed out for a night of partying Carnival-style in the streets of São Paulo. He has 289,300 reasons to celebrate, and he was smiling broadly as he posed for his winner photo with the winning hand, the trophy, and all the chips.

2012 LAPT Grand Final São Paulo Results

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