Hobart Adkins is headed into the first break a happy man. He's managed to almost triple up, to about 57,000, in the first two levels. We watched him play a hand out of the small blind, calling a middle position raise to 525. The big blind also called to a three-way paired flop, . All players checked to the turn, a card that drew a bet of 700 from Adkins. Only the big blind called. Both players checked the river, where Adkins showed down to take the pot.
It took us a while to find Jose "Nacho" Barbero, who is hidden in a far corner of the Sheraton ballroom. Barbero is a player for Team PokerStars Pro (Argentina) who had a banner 2010. In addition to shipping the EPT London High Rollers Event for a cool GBP556,000, Barbero captured back-to-back LAPT titles at Punta del Este and Lima to add another $500,000 to his bankroll.
He's already off on the right foot here in Sao Paulo, having doubled his stack to 40,000 in the first hour.
With about 1,200 chips in the middle, three players werein action including PokerStars Team Online player Fredy Torres and World Series of Poker bracelet winner Max Stern. The flop read and action checked around to see the fall on the turn. After the first player bet, Stern raised to 1,500. Torres got out of the way and the first player made the call.
The river paired the board with the and the first player bet 3,000. Stern raised to 8,000 and his opponent moved all in for about 10,000. Stern quickly called.
Stern tabled the for a full house, nines over sevens, and beat his opponent's for a straight. The player had turned the straight and Stern rivered a full house as the board paired on the end. Stern's up to about 55,000 now.
After an early-position player raised to 400, Patrick Carron reraised from the cutoff seat to 1,125. The original raiser made it 2,400 to go quickly after action got back to him. Carron studied for a minute and then announced that he was all in, having his opponent covered for his last 11,400. The player tanked before making the fold and Carron scooped the pot to improve to 27,000.
The tough table in the room now appears to be Table 21, where Humberto Brenes, Leo Fernandez and Joao Nunes all find themselves. Cautious play seems to be the rule there at the moment. Fernandez recently three-bet pre-flop to 2,200. When the original raiser called the re-raise, both players checked all the way, . Fernandez had his opponent out-pipped, showing down against to take the pot.
With 725 chips in the middle on the flop of , Team PokerStars Pro Angel Guillen was in action against two opponents, one to act before him and one after him. The first player checked and Guillen slid out a bet of 350. The opponent behind him folded before action fell back on the first player again. He made the call.
The turn card was the and the first player checked. Guillen bet again, this time making his wager worth 1,050. His opponent made the call.
The paired the board on the river and both players quickly checked. Guillen watched his opponent table the for a gunshot straight draw on the flop that turned into a pair of aces on the turn. Guillen didn't look too happy about it and mucked his hand.
The native language here in Brazil is Portuguese. It's a language just different enough from Spanish -- the primary language spoken in most of South America outside of Brazil -- to have some cognates but to otherwise be completely incomprehensible to Spanish-speakers. All of the non-Brazilians in the room (including the humble PokerNews reporting team) are getting language lessons as the Brazilian dealers call the action in their native tongue, in addition to English and Spanish, as known and as necessary.
We've spotted a few more notables in the field including Gino Leonello Corazzari Neto (14th place LAPT Florianopolis), Felipe Ramos, Bruno De Oliveira Severino (134th PCA) and Cinthia Carolina Escobar.
After five caipirinhas last night, none of us are really sure if we're seeing straight this morning. That may explain why we did a double-take at Table 41, where the gentleman in the 4-seat is wearing a cap that reads "Porko Stars". We haven't yet summoned the conviction necessary to ask him what it means.
![[user75032]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. All players checked to the 
turn, a card that drew a bet of 700 from Adkins. Only the big blind called. Both players checked the 
river, where Adkins showed down 
to take the pot.
and action checked around to see the 
for a full house, nines over sevens, and beat his opponent's 
for a straight. The player had turned the straight and Stern rivered a full house as the board paired on the end. Stern's up to about 55,000 now.
paired the board on the river and both players quickly checked. Guillen watched his opponent table the 
for a gunshot straight draw on the flop that turned into a pair of aces on the turn. Guillen didn't look too happy about it and mucked his hand.