August 06 2011, Mickey Doft

The 2011 PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour Punta del Este Main Event resumed on Saturday with 27 players remaining from the starting field of of 422, all looking to navigate to Sunday’s final table of eight. After five levels and change, Alex Komalomi has separated himself from the pack, leading the way with 2,920,000 — more than a third of the chips in play.

Komalomi began Day 2 with 304,000, which was 11/27 coming into the day. The key hand that propelled him to the top of the counts took place with ten players remaining. With the blinds and antes at the 12,000/24,000/4,000 level, Andrey Tsitovich opened the pot with an under-the-gun min-raise to 48,000. Komalomi popped it to 116,000 from the big blind, only to see Tsitovich shove for about 875,000. A call from Komalomi revealed , leading the held by Tsitovich. The board ran out a safe for Komalomi, bringing play to the unofficial final table of nine where once again Komalomi scored the elimination.

With the blinds and antes at the 15,000/30,000/5,000 level, the action started with a Komalomi raise to 65,000 from the hijack. Oded Minond shoved on the button for 445,000 and it folded around to Komalomi. After a good two minutes in the tank, he called and tabled . Minond held a slight lead with , but was unable to hold as the board came down , setting the stage for the official final table.

Here are their seat assignments and chip counts:

With only Komalomi and Engelberth Varela above the million-chip mark, the two of them hold more than half the chips in play and are the favorites heading into Sunday’s Day 4. Will Komalomi, the lone Uruguayan remaining, be the first to win it for his home country? Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all the live coverage straight from the floor at the LAPT as only our Live Reporting Team can bring it to you.

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