Main Event
Day 1 Started
2010 PokerStars.net LAPT Lima
Main Event
Day: 1
Welcome to PokerStars.net LAPT Lima
Welcome to the inaugural PokserStars.net LAPT Lima. This is the first major tournament to be held in this country and is understandably causing great excitement. Being the 4th largest city in Latin America meant it was only a matter of time before the region’s biggest and most prestigious poker tour stopped here on the Pacific coast.
This is a four day tournament with one day one flight. Early estimates indicate a field in excess of 350. Over 100 of these have come from local satellites so it just goes to show you the sense of anticipation this event is causing here in Peru. Play is due to start at 12pm UTC. That’s GMT – 5 hours for those as lost as we were for a while.
Chip Counts
| Player | Chips | Progress |
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20,000 | |
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20,000 | |
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20,000 | |
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20,000 | |
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20,000 | |
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20,000 | |
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20,000 | |
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20,000 | |
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20,000 | |
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20,000 | |
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20,000 | |
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20,000 | |
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20,000 | |
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Ready for the off
Players are filtering into the Atlantic City casino’s card room where dealers have ten towers of 20,000 stacks in front of them. A lot of players are starting to sit down and among those are quiet a lot of notables, particularly and unsurprisingly from the Americas. We have PokerStars Team Pros Alex Gomes, Leo Fernandez, Jose Barbero, Veronica Dabul, Andre Akkari, Gualter Salles, Maria Mayrinck, Diego Silva, Greg Debora, Angel Guillen, Christian De Leon, Karlo Lopez and last but not least Dennis Phillips. Other players we’ve spotted include Carter Gill, Aaron Lerner and EPT San Remo final table finisher Michael Piper. Play will start 10-handed and move to 9-handed as soon as possible. Tomorrow (which is 8 hour-long levels away) will see action hit 8-handed. The tournament director is getting ready to drop the flag so stay with us for the knockouts, suckouts and general histrionics.
Please take a moment to appreciate the irony of the tournament taking place in the Atlantic City when the Pacific ocean is but a stone's throw away.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Phillips starts grinding
Dennis Phillips must surely see some soft spots here in the early levels of the LAPT Lima and seems fairly willing to get involved. We came to the action on the turn of 
board (against LAPT Punta del Este fifth place finisher Naiela Zapiello). The former November Niner cagily check-called 725 before he swiftly led out for 1,225 on the 
river. Zapiello considered calling for a short while before her cards hit the muck.
Piper out of tune
Michael Piper recently took down 3rd place at EPT San Remo for a cool $468,731 but he hasn’t gotten off to the best of starts here. He told Pokernews that he ran into the nut flush of Aaron Lerner to move to below 15,000. Lerner raised from early position and saw three players, including Piper from the button, call. The flop came 
with two clubs. Lerner led for 800 into a 1,200 pot and only Piper called to see a non-club seven come on the turn. Piper bet 1,800 and was called before the river came 
. Lerner now led for 2,200 and Piper made the call with pocket jacks but soon saw the bad news.
Cagey play
You might expect latin blood to be boiling and bubbling from the outset but things seem to have started off pretty calmly. Maybe it’s the powerful air conditioning that they have in operation. So far there has been no standing on chairs, no snapping shark toys and barely as much as a waved arm or raised voice. Surely it can’t last long - start your spread bets now.
Phillips not Gutted
Dennis Phillips has once more got the better of Daniela Zapiello to see his stack rise to 23,000 while hers has dipped to 13,000. The action folded to Phillips in the small blind where his raise to 250 was quickly called by the Brazilian in the big blind. The flop came 
and Phillips continued the aggressive line with a 425 bet and was called quickly once again. Both players shut down from this point and checked down the turn and 
river. Phillips tabled 
for two-pair and it was good as Zapiello could only muster the drawing 
. Zapiello came 5th at the LAPT3 Punta del Este for $52,110 so I’m sure we’ll see more from her today.
Desmond bails on the river
Young Brit Cory Desmond was in the big blind when four limps headed his way so it came as little surprise that he popped it up to 700. The raise squeezed out all but one of the limpers. Desmond, who had a good run at the UKIPT Manchester in the UK back in February, fired 1,025 at the low 
board and was called. The call slowed Desmond down on the 
turn wher he check-called 2,350. A flush completing 
appeared on the river which helped Desmond decided that the 5,000 bet was too much for his which he mucked face up. Desmond is down to 17,000.