$5,200 Mar del Plata Main Event Day 1b | 2009 PokerStars.net LAPT Mar del Plata

04-17-2009 20:13 UTC-4

Luis Jaikel = Chipleader

[user24788]

Luis Jaikel from Costa Rica is the chipleader with 90,000. The semi-pro is a satellite machine. He won five seats to the WSOP Main Event last summer via PokerStars.

Tags: Luis Jaikel

04-17-2009 20:13 UTC-4

After doubling up just a few minutes ago Joe Hachem lost a big chunk of his stack in your typical race situation. After a player raised to 2,000 Hachem made it 6,000 to go. His opponent tanked for a bit before pushing his chips in the middle and Joe quietly called.

His {A-Spades}

were pitted against {J-Diamonds}

, and after Hachem got no help from the {6-Spades}

he shipped the majority of his chips across the table. He's back down to around 12,000.

Tags: Joe Hachem

04-17-2009 20:06 UTC-4

No Action for Umbrella Man

[user24788]

Zach "Umbrella Man" Hall made a stand. One player opened with a raise and Umbrella Man shoved all in over the top for his last 12,000. The player contemplated a call but folded. He asked Umbrella Man to see his cards. Initially Umbrella Man flashed one card then tabled both cards... {Q-Spades}

.

Umbrella Man has quickly become a local celebrity. Shortly after dinner break, one of the railbirds slipped passed security and snuck inside the roped off tournament area. He was an elderly Argentinean and took out his cell phone. He snapped a photo of Umbrella Man and rushed back out to the rail.

Tags: Umbrella Man

04-17-2009 20:01 UTC-4

Mark Ioli at 69K

[user24788]

Mark Ioli had been building a stack over the course of the evening. He just busted a short stack who shoved into Ioli's big blind. Ioli called with {10-Diamonds}

and was up against {K-Diamonds}

. Ioli flopped a ten and rivered a flush (which was unnecessary) to win the pot. After he stacked up his chips, he was looking at almost 70,000. That places him among the chipleaders.

Tags: Mark Ioli

Level: 8

Blinds: 400/800

Ante: 75

04-17-2009 19:58 UTC-4

Let's See How This Ends First

[user37786]

Chris Moneymaker stopped by Joe Hachem's table just after the dinner break and returned about 15 minutes ago. Looking over Hachem's middling stack he said, "Would you bust already? We need three people for a satellite!"

But it looks like Hachem will be hanging around this event just a bit longer. He raised to 1,800 from early position and the player two to his left made the call. The flop came {8-Hearts}

and Hachem checked. His opponent fired out 4,000 chips and after a brief pause Hachem announced he was all in. His opponent deliberated for about a minute before saying, "Call".

Which is when he learned that his {9-Spades}

trailed Hachem's {9-Clubs}

. The

on the turn and {K-Clubs}

on the river sealed the deal and brought Hachem's stack up to around 24,000.

Tags: Joe Hachem

04-17-2009 19:43 UTC-4

74 Players Remaining

[user24788]

The pace has picked up since the dinner break. There are 74 players remaining. Among the notable still in the field... Humberto Brenes, Joe Hachem, Andre Akkari, Alex Gomes, Leo Fernandez, Maria Stern, and Umbrella Man.

04-17-2009 19:30 UTC-4

Leo Fernandez Triples Up

[user37786]

Left almost for dead when he lost about 90% of his chips in a hand early on, Leo Fernandez just tripled up to lift his stack to around 15,000. An early position player moved in for around 6,000, the player two seats to his left called, and from the big blind Fernandez committed the last of his chips.

He held {J-Hearts}

to the original raiser's {A-Hearts}

and the caller's {A-Clubs}

. Fernandez managed to dodge the big cards that would doom him as the board ran out {7-Diamonds}

to triple him back into contention.

Tags: Leo Fernandez

04-17-2009 19:23 UTC-4

No Action for Gomes

[user24788]

With the blinds at 300/600 and a 75 ante, one player opened with a 2,100 raise. A second player called. Alex Gomes moved all in on the button for over 25,000. Leo Fernandez was in the big blind with a short stack around 7,000. He tanked for several minutes while a swarm of media buzzed around the table. Chris Moneymaker and Dennis Phillips wandered over to check out what all the fuss was about. Fernandez agonized for a few moments. It appeared as though he wanted to move all in for the rest of his chips. He eventually folded and action returned to the original raiser, who quickly folded along with the other player. Gomes won the pot but didn't show his hand, much to the dismay of his tablemates.

Tags: Alex Gomes

04-17-2009 19:11 UTC-4

Ibuki Fukui Doubles Up

[user37786]

We were alerted to this hand as Ibuki Fukui thumped the table as the river card was dealt. His {J-Hearts}

had held up against his opponent's {K-Hearts}

with the board showing {5-Clubs}

. The other player couldn't connect with his flush draw or overcards and so Fukui has doubled up to around 25,000.

"You need your hands to hold," he said, as he stacked his freshly-won chips.

Tags: Ibuki Fukui