May 26 2012, Josh Cahlik

Day 3 of the PokerStars.net LAPT Punta del Este Main Event has officially reached a final table and Brazilian Francisco Baruffi Neto is the man running the show with 1,346,000 chips.

Hot on Neto’s heels is Argentinian Guido Ruffini who is sitting with a solid stack of 1,259,000. Rounding out the top three is the chip leader going into Day 3, Ivan Luca, who is a mere blue T5,000 chip away from Ruffini with 1,254,000. Luca was quiet early on in the day but turned up the aggression as the day pressed on, leading to his retention of his spot among the tournament leaders.

Francisco Baruffi Neto gained a majority of his stack during a fortunate confrontation with Day 1 chip leader Juan Garcia. The two players shot raises back and forth before the flop until Garcia six-bet all-in and Neto made the call for his tournament life. Garcia was ahead with and Neto, who was holding was in need of a miracle. The flop of was of no help to Neto, but the on fourth street most certainly was. Garcia sat motionless, blankly staring at the board as if he could not believe what had happened. The board finished with a and just like that Neto went from having his tournament life on the line to being a dominating chip leader with over 1,500,000.

Saturday’s play saw a slew of competitors hit the rail. Among those who hit the rail were Pedro Komaromi, Julian Menendez, Bolivar Palacios, Luiz Filipe Andrade, and Team PokerStars Pro Nacho Barbero.

The story causing all of the buzz among the tournament room of the Mantra Resort, however, is one about angels; one angel to be exact: Team PokerStars Pro Angel Guillen. Guillen had quite the dramatic day, being seen at both the top and bottom of the chip counts. At one point in the day, Guillen found himself in dire need of a double up, and instead was awarded with a very surprising triple up.

Guillen raised to 16,000 from under the gun and received a call from Vladimir Dobrovolskiy on the cutoff and Leandro Rubinsztain in the small blind. The trio of players saw a flop of . Action checked around to Dobrovolskiy who bet 24,000. Rubinsztain opted to call, but Guillen took this opportunity to move all-in. Much to the chagrin of Guillen, Dobrovolskiy three-bet all-in over the top and Rubinsztain quickly called off his remaining 140,000.

Showdown

Rubinsztain:
Guillen:
Dobrovolskiy:

Guillen was holding the worst hand and Rubinsztain was ready to score a sweet triple up. The came on the river, giving Guillen a set and a few more outs to take down the pot with a full house. The poker gods obliged to satisfy Guillen, as the drilled the river, pairing the board and giving Guillen a winning full house, overcoming a 4 percent chance of taking down the pot when the money was put in on the flop.

Guillen will be coming into the final table as the shortest stack, holding 421,000 in chips, That being said, Guillen has showed a tremendous will to remain in this tournament and spectators should expect no less when the final nine take their seats on Sunday. Guillen is also fueled by the need to seek redemption for his third place finish in this event during the LAPT’s second season.

Final Table Seating Chart

Saturday’s play saw 75 players become nine, and on Sunday, we’ll see nine become one champion. Join our Live Reporting Team at 1300 UYT (0900 PDT) for the exciting conclusion to the LAPT Punta del Este Main Event.

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May 24 2012, Josh Cahlik

After six levels of play, Day 1 of the PokerStars.net LAPT Punta del Este Main Event has come to a close. Juan Garcia has managed to rise above the rest, building his starting stack of 20,000 up to 134,650.

Garcia will be joined on Day 2 by several notables who survived the first six levels of play, including Claudio Garrone (84,200), Julian Menendez (72,000), Fabrizio Gonzalez (62,875), Santiago Nadal (58,000), Bolivar Palacios (44,650), and Ari Engel (6,125). Also returning on Friday is the 2011 LAPT Punta del Este Main Event champion Alex Komaromi. Komaromi will be sitting on a stack of 37,075.

While many thrived during play, others were not so fortunate. Oded Minod, Daniela Zapielo, Juan Jose Perez, Pablo Gonzalez, and Leonardo Olivares were among those who hit the rail.

Team PokerStars had their fair share of notable names to survive on to Day 2 play. Among those returning are Angel Guillen (24,000) and Nacho Barbero (22,650). That being said, Team PokerStars pros Andre Akkari, Leo Fernandez and Christian de Leon were not fortunate enough to survive the day.

Humberto Brenes will also be returning for Day 2 play after a day filled with many ups and downs. Brenes’ lowest point occurred early on when he flopped what should have been a jackpot. Brenes’ found top set on a flop. His opponent, on the other hand, held for bottom two pair. Unfortunately for Brenes, the turn and river brought the and the giving his opponent a heart flush. All of the money went in on the river and Brenes’ chip stack was virtually crippled after doubling his opponent up. However, as the day progressed, Brenes was able to overcome the odds and end the day’s play with 16,825 in chips.

The event managed to attract 375 entrants, which was down from the attendance of 422 in 2011. The top 56 players in the tournament will get paid and first place will take home a whopping prize of $186,820.

Payouts

Originally, Day 1 of this event was supposed to play a full 10 levels, but the tournament staff decided to amend the structure, making both Day 1 and 2 of the event only six levels. This will provide a refreshing evening for the remaining players, as they will be able to relax and enjoy a long dinner and night off before play resumes on Friday for levels 7 through 12.

The remaining 270 players will return to the felt tomorrow at 1200 UYT (0800 PDT) for Day 2 and PokerNews will be here to provide updates on all of the action.

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