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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February 19 2012, Donnie Peters

Day 3 of the 2012 PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour Grand Final wrapped up shortly after dinner on Sunday in São Paulo, Brazil. Leading the way in a big way is Daniele Nestola. He finished with 1.892 million in chips and has about 600,000 more than Carlos Ibarra, who is in second place. Vitor Torres will be the short stack, wrapping up with 273,000 in chips.

The day began with 24 players returning to action including Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes. Entering the day as the shortest stack in the room didn’t make things easy on Brenes and he was out the door in 22nd place.

Brenes was all-in with against Martin Santos’ . The board ran out and that was the end of the line for the Costa Rican pro.

Also falling short of the final table were notables Caio Pimenta (12th) and Mayu Roca (11th). The last player eliminated on the day was Joshua Ewing in ninth place.

Getting short on chips, Ewing looked down to see pocket fours and moved all-in for approximately 230,000. He was crushed by the pocket kings held by Gasperino Nicolas and couldn’t find any help on the flop, turn or river. For his finish, Ewing took home R$22,390 and his elimination officially ended the day.

The biggest name at the final table belongs to Team PokerStars Pro and four-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu. This was Negreanu’s first time ever making an LAPT cash and he’s made the most of it so far by finding his way to the final table. In doing so, Negreanu has accomplished a feat that no other poker player has done.

Combining this final table appearance with his EPT Vienna and APPT Sydney final table finishes in 2010, Negreanu is the only poker player to ever make a final table in Main Events across all three of the PokerStars-sponsored tours. “Kid Poker” bagged up 702,000 in chips and will enter Monday’s final day fifth overall.

Final Table Seating Assignments and Chips

Live updates will begin at 1200 BRST (1400 GMT) Monday and the PokerNews team will bring you all of the action. There’s R$324,600 up for grabs for the winner and all of the remaining eight players would love to get their hands on it.

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