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.

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

No comments yet. Be the first to post one!

October 15 2011, Chad Holloway

The first PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour event continued Friday at the Allegre Casino in Medellin, Colombia. Day 1b saw another packed house and, with a few alternates, attracted 351 players, surpassing Day 1a’s capped-field of 330. Combined, the two starting days created a field of 681 players, which makes LAPT Colombia the largest LAPT Main Event in history (surpassing the 621 entries of Chile’s Vina del Mar in March).

After ten levels of play, 108 players survived Day 1b, including Team PokerStars Pro (Brazil) Andre Akkari, Engelberth Varela, Jorge Alvarado, Tulio Bertoli, Cesar Mejia Medina, and Pablo Gonzalez. However, they’re all chasing Leandro Csome, who appears to be the Day 1b chip leader with 149,000. All of those players will return on Saturday for Day 2 and join the 101 survivors from Day 1a, who included Humberto Brenes, Daniel Ospina, and Fredy Torres.

All of these players will be competing for the C$288,329,000 first-place prize, which amounts to USD$151,027.03. Some players who won’t be making a run at the grand prize are Day 1b casualties: Team PokerStars Pro (Argentina) Leo Fernandez, Oded Minond, Jesus Bertoli, James Honeybone, Carlos Zapato, Julio Belluscio, Joao Henrique Lima, and Gaston Catzman.

One survivor, Varela, was active throughout the day, and his stack seemed to be on a perpetual roller-coaster ride. Then, toward the end of the evening, he hit a hand that helped carry him through to Day 2. It happened when he opened from middle position and Zapato three-bet from the button. Action folded back to Varela and he called, leading to a flop. Varela checked, Zapato bet 6,000, and after about 90 seconds of counting out his chips, Varela moved all-in for 37,600. Zapato tanked for about three minutes before calling with , which was behind Varela’s . Neither the turn nor the river changed a thing, and Varela doubled to nearly 90,000.

Likewise, the Day 1b chip leader, Leandro Csome, was the beneficiary of a late-night heater. With about 40 minutes left in the night, action folded to a player in middle position and he put in a raise to 3,000. Csome was next to act in the hijack and he three-bet to 7,000, which cleared the field all the way back the original raiser. A four-bet to 23,000 ensued, Csome called, creating a 50,000-chip pot preflop When the flop came down , the middle-position player moved all-in for around 40,000 and Csome snap-called for about the same amount.

Showdown
Csome:
Opponent:

The fell on the turn followed by the river and when the stacks were counted down, it was discovered that Csome was the one all-in, which meant he doubled to around 130,000.

One of the more interesting story lines as play headed into Day 2 is the race between Pablo Gonzalez and Daniel Ospina, who sit atop the LAPT Player of the Year Leaderboard with 1,125 points and 990 points respectively. These men played on separate starting days, but they’ll be in the same room on Day 2 looking to distance themselves from the rest of the pack.

Day 2 action is set to kick off at 1200 COT (1000 PDT) on Saturday, and we expect it to be a long day because the remaining field is set to play down to a final table, or at least come as close as possible.

Join the PokerNews Live Reporting then for all the latest hands, action, and eliminations from the LAPT Colombia.

Stay up to date on all the latest news by following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook.

Follow Chad Holloway on Twitter – @ChadAHolloway