Bruno Politano's up-and-down day ended decidedly down. He moved all in from the small blind after cutoff player Alex Manzano opened for 115,000. Henrique Bernardes thought it over briefly in the big blind before folding. Manzano called with and was off to the races as Politano tabled .
Manzano absolutely smashed the flop, . Politano caught the faintest glimmer of hope with the turn, picking up a straight draw, but he was the first eliminated from the final table after the river.
From under the gun, Alex Manzano raised. Leandro Csome, the chip leader, three-bet from next seat and won the pot. Upon everyone folding, Csome's cheering section roared and he showed the with a big smile.
It's quite common to see players showing cards at the table and providing their opponents with free information. Oftentimes, a player will fold and show his or her hand before the other player also shows. We've seen this a lot over the past few days and it's always a presence on the Latin American Poker Tour.
Joao Bauer has a very unenviable seat at today's final table. Seated to his left are the players with the two biggest stacks, Alex Manzano and Leandro Csome. Bauer decided to play very aggressively against Csome on the last hand before the break and it paid dividends. Sitting with the button, Bauer opened to 115,000. Csome three-bet the big blind to 330,000, a raise that Bauer responded to by moving all in. Csome asked for a count (about 1 million) then called with . He went running down to his supporters in the gallery when Bauer opened .
The flop was a ragged . All of the Brazilians in the crowd starting chanting for a jack and were rewarded with the on the turn. Csome's much smaller group of supporters chanted for a queen but were drowned out by the cheers of the Brazilians on the river .
That's the first hit for Csome today. Bauer is now vying for the chip lead.
On the first hand back from the break, Santiago Nadal moved all in from under the gun for 250,000. Action folded around to Alex Manzano on the button and he paused for a few moments before making the call. Everyone else folded.
Manzano:
Nadal:
The board ran out and Nadal's pair of kings netted him the double up.
With the average stack now a very shallow 25 big blinds, nobody is driving the action. Joao Bauer appears to be taking shots where he can and, so far, isn't encountering much resistance. Very few pots are getting past the first raise pre-flop or the first bet on the flop. It may be that escalating blinds will be the ultimate action driver at today's final table.
Action folded to Joao Bauer on the button. He raised to 155,000. Alex Manzano wasted little time in moving all in from the small blind and won the pot.
From the button, Leandro Csome raised all in, putting the pressure on the two short stacks in the blinds, Henrique Bernardes and Santiago Nadal. Bernardes folded in the small blind, but Nadal made the call in the big blind. Nadal held the and was dominating the for Csome.
The flop, turn and river ran out to give Nadal the double through. He was all in for 330,000 after having lost a lot of small pots and being blinded down. He's back to 760,000 now though.