August 13 2012, PokerNews Staff

Five Colombians made the final table of the 2012 PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour Colombian National Poker Championship on Sunday. They were joined by a rock-solid Brazilian and a Spaniard who had more live tournament experience than the rest of the table combined. But an unheralded qualifier, Robbie Renehan of Dublin, Ireland, surprised everyone at the Allegre Casino in Medellin, Colombia by grinding his way home and claiming the top prize of 264,700,000 Colombian pesos (USD$147,877).

Last year, the CNPC was priced at a modest $1,100 and drew 681 players, exceeding the wildest expectations of tournament organizers but causing some tight quarters on the tournament floor. This year, the buy-in was increased to $2,500, helping to reduce the field to a more manageable 337 players. Forty-eight made the money, including a few Team PokerStars Pros: Angel Guillen of Mexico, who finished 47th for the minimum payout of $3,614, and Costa Rica’s Humberto Brenes, who continued his string of success on the LAPT by finishing in 22nd place ($5,028).

Renehan, 29, qualified for the CNPC on PokerStars. His previous live tournament earnings totaled less than $6,000. By making the final table, Renehan guaranteed a payout of triple those earnings because eighth place at the CNPC paid $17,441. But Renehan wasn’t interested in eighth place. He was patient in the early stages of the final table while other players were eliminated, and then used a timely knockout of his own to grab enough chips to begin to pressure other players.

On the final hand, Renehan’s heads-up opponent, Jayr Fregona of Brazil, moved all in with ace-eight. Renehan snap-called with pocket queens. Five cards later, he was the latest LAPT champion.

By all accounts, the LAPT’s return to Medellin was a success. The tour will seek to build on that success next month when it goes to Panama for the first time. From Sept. 26 to Sept. 30, Latin American poker action can be found at the Veneto Hotel and Casino in Panama City. Satellites are running now on PokerStars.

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April 26 2012, Donnie Peters

Day 1b of the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final Main Event is in the books after the second and last starting flight ran through the first eight levels of the tournament. There were 394 players in action on Thursday, bringing the total of this year’s field to 665. Nicolas Yunis ended the day with the most chips in the room – a stack of 191,700.

On Day 1a, Martin Kabrhel bagged up the most chips with 167,800. On Day 1b, Yunis along with Ivan Kudriavtcev and Andoni Larrabe Sánchez finished with more chips to put Kabrhel in fourth place overall heading into Day 2. Yunis was a steady climber throughout the day and there wasn’t a single stand-out pot that the Live Reporting Team saw from him that vaulted him into the lead. Rather, a gradual progression of hands earned him the No. 1 overall spot.

Plenty of notable players were in the mix on Day 1b including those representing Team PokerStars Pro. Ana Marquez, Fatima Moreira De Melo, Humberto Brenes, Pius Heinz, Marcel Luske and Jason Mercier all had successful days on the felt. Lex Veldhuis, Victoria Coren, Jonathan Duhamel and Eugene Katchalov however, were all eliminated on the day.

Other well-known faces were in the field and ended up bagging up decent stacks, including Tom Marchese, Stephen Chidwick, Erik Seidel, Annette Obrestad and Maria Ho.

End of Day 1b Chip Counts

Day 2 will commence at 1200 CET tomorrow and PokerNews will be back in action firing away the updates as the players fire in their chips. Be sure to join us then.

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