For those wondering how Jose "Nacho" Barbero manages to be successful so consistently, take notes on the following hand. Two players limped into the pot pre-flop. Barbero, with the button, also called. Both blinds were in the pot as well for a five-way flop of . Action checked to Barbero, who casually dropped 600 over the betting line. Only the small blind called.
The turn was the . The small blind checked, then quickly called another 1,300 from Barbero. When the river fell to put a straight on board the small blind checked a third time. Barbero over-bet the pot by stacking up six yellow (1,000) chips and pushing them across the line. Barbero's opponent leaned back in his seat, put both hands on top of his head, then said, "Call." His , a spade flush, went down to Barbero's , the nut spade flush.
Maria "Maridu" Mayrinck is always so helpful out on the floor with filling us in on information that we may have missed. She's especially good at this when helping out us American bloggers on the Brazilian tournament floor.
She just called us over to be sure to tell us about Christian Kruel's day so far. She mentioned that he was on the wrong end of some hands early, including his being flushed out by after he flopped two pair. He got all the way down to about 7,000 in chips before the last break, but has come back in a hurry to about 29,000.
First, Maridu told us that Kruel stacked a player holding on the flop of . Kruel held the nuts with the two case sixes in his hand for quads. "He flopped quads, not turn or river, he flopped them!" Maridu made sure to emphasize. "Then, he had set over set where he stacked someone else," she added.
According to Maridu, Kruel was the first really big Brazilian player who taught a lot of the newer pros their game and gave them the skills to become big-time players.
Humberto Brenes seems to be getting the best of Table 21 so far today. He's being his usual chatty self while amassing chips and dodging traps. Sitting with the button for his most recent hand, Brenes raised one limper to 475. That player, the cutoff, called and then check-called another 600 on a flop of . Both players checked the turn and the river. The cutoff clearly had been looking for a river check-raise; he showed down , the nuts. Brenes smiled and waved an admonishing finger at that player before mucking his cards.
In between helping out bloggers, Maria Mayrinck is also playing some poker. She opened a recent pot with a pre-flop raise to 600 from middle position. Two players called: the button and the big blind. All three checked the jack-high flop, . The that fell on the turn was also checked through. Mayrinck finally snapped into action with a river . After the big blind checked, Mayrinck bet 950. Her bet induced a fold from the button. The big blind picked up a yellow (1,000) chip and looked to be pondering a call.
Mayrinck started chattering in Portuguese at her opponent. Whatever she said induced a call right into her , the nut straight. By collecting the pot, Mayrinck increased her count to about 27,000.
We don't have an official tally of entrants yet, but the tournament clock is showing 536 players in today's field. Assuming that number holds, it will smash the LAPT record for biggest field (398), set at the Season 1 event in Costa Rica.
On the flop of , the first player bet 550 before Alexandre Gomes raised to 2,000. Two players then folded before action moved back to the original bettor. He made the call.
The fell on the turn and the first player bet into Gomes again for 550. Gomes just called this time to see the fall on the river. Both players checked.
Gomes mucked his hand after his opponent tabled the . He was knocked down to 15,500 in chips with this loss.
From middle position, Ori Miller raised to 475. His only caller came from the big blind and the flop came down . The big blind checked and Miller fired a continuation bet of 550. His opponent check-raised to 1,275 and Miller called.
Fourth street was the and the big blind bet 2,900. Miller thought for a minute or so and then finally gave it up. He dropped to 24,000 by giving up this pot.
Maybe we've just caught a weird stretch of hands today, but a surprising number of players are not continuation-betting the flop. Leo Fernandez had a chance when he raised to 600 pre-flop and was called by fellow Team Pro Joao Nunes and the big blind. Instead, all three checked all the way to the river on a board of , where the big blind's bet of 2,500 took down the pot.
On the other side of the room, Team Pro Andre Akkari opened a pot to 600 from early position and was called by four(!) other players. On a dry flop of , action passed to the last player to act, who took down the pot with a single bet of 1,500.
![[user75032]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Action checked to Barbero, who casually dropped 600 over the betting line. Only the small blind called.
. The small blind checked, then quickly called another 1,300 from Barbero. When the river fell 
to put a straight on board the small blind checked a third time. Barbero over-bet the pot by stacking up six yellow (1,000) chips and pushing them across the line. Barbero's opponent leaned back in his seat, put both hands on top of his head, then said, "Call." His 
, a spade flush, went down to Barbero's 
, the nut spade flush.
being flushed out by 
after he flopped two pair. He got all the way down to about 7,000 in chips before the last break, but has come back in a hurry to about 29,000.
. Both players checked the 
turn and the 
river. The cutoff clearly had been looking for a river check-raise; he showed down 
, the nuts. Brenes smiled and waved an admonishing finger at that player before mucking his cards.
that fell on the turn was also checked through. Mayrinck finally snapped into action with a river 
. After the big blind checked, Mayrinck bet 950. Her bet induced a fold from the button. The big blind picked up a yellow (1,000) chip and looked to be pondering a call.
, the nut straight. By collecting the pot, Mayrinck increased her count to about 27,000.
, the first player bet 550 before Alexandre Gomes raised to 2,000. Two players then folded before action moved back to the original bettor. He made the call.
and the big blind bet 2,900. Miller thought for a minute or so and then finally gave it up. He dropped to 24,000 by giving up this pot.
, where the big blind's bet of 2,500 took down the pot.