Fri, 01/21/2011 – 04:14 – PokerPages Staff

#5 – Jose “Nacho” Barbero
It seems slightly unfair to place this gifted young Argentinean in fifth position – he finished first twice during the third LAPT Season, winning very handsome sums on each occasion.  However, we decided to go by biggest single wins, Jose takes fifth position with his victory at the Punta del Este in 2010.  When Jose won $279,330 (if we’d included his other win, the figure would have been $525,330).

#4 – Karl Hevroy
A 20-year old university student from Norway seizes fourth place, making him the first Scandinavian to win the LAPT.  His victory came at the LAPT Season 2 Punta de Este resort in Uruguay back in 2009, when he took $283,580 back to his hometown in Bergen.

#3 Ryan Fee
San Jose Costa Rica was the exotic location for 20 year-old poker pro Ryan Fee to storm into our third place.  He won $285,773 on November 8 2008, which helped him decide to drop his studies at Philadelphia’s Drexel University and concentrate on professional poker instead.

#2 – Martin Sansour
By an impressive margin, a quiet Peruvian claims our runner up position.  Martin Sansour began Season 3 as a PokerStars qualifier but beat back 253 other players at the City Center Casino in Rosario on 26th November 2010.  He took one of the biggest prizes in LAPT history – £322,280.

#1 – Dominik Nitsche
The record holder, however, was a German high school student from Minden.  19 year-old Dominik Nitsche, who became Season 2′s LAPT champion at the Mar del Plata on April 19 2009, returned to his studies with the princely sum of $381,030 in his pocket.  He does not have to worry about working his way through college anymore.

Tue, 02/01/2011 – 00:55 – PokerPages Staff

As the beginner poker player pushes past the basic poker rules and the basics of poker betting, generally they will find trouble.  It is through continued experience and education that the beginner will find solutions for what troubles their game.  As such, here is some some advice with a unique spin for playing in Multi-Table Tournaments.

The advice is sound.  To push your game to the next level, you must have patience.  Being patient, waiting for the right time to make a move and making the right move, is the hallmark of the best professional poker players.  This involves the strategies we’ve previously learned:  poker mathematics and consistent play.

The spin.  Practice and apply patience based on chip stack, blinds and antes:  Pacing.  According to the advice, pacing can be accomplished through a calculation of the proportion of the blinds and antes to your chip stack.  Specifically, the percentage of the total of the blinds and antes on your total chip stack can guide your play.

In short, if the percentage is less than 10%, you should only be playing the best hands, such as a high pocket pair or AK.  When the percentage reaches 15%, you should be looking for additional opportunities to play.  At 20%, you should be playing even more hands to build up your chips.

This is all good stuff, but remember, nothing is a sure thing nor is it a replacement for solid, consistent play.

To learn more, check out PokerSchoolOnline, the best source on the internet for poker related learning.  One excellent way to put what you have learned to the test is by playing for free at PokerStars.net.  Also, check out the PokerPages sections Poker Information and Poker Articles for more poker tips and strategies.