$2,700 No Limit Hold'em Main Event Day 1 | 2008 PokerStars.net LAPT Punta del Este

08-07-2008 20:47 UTC-3

Post-Dinner Break

The clock is paused, and the players are taking a 10-minute break.

08-07-2008 20:57 UTC-3

Everyone has had their dinner and their break, and the cards are back in the air with everyone playing Level 7 together. As play resumes, we have been informed that we have under 200 players remaining.

Level: 7

Blinds: 300/600

Ante: 50

08-07-2008 21:13 UTC-3

Fossilman Anything But a Rock

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Greg Raymer is our chip leader, and he is putting his chips to good use. To say he is loose would be an overstatement, but Raymer is certainly playing an above-average number of pots. In his latest venture, he opened under the gun with a raise to 1,600. The small blind was the only caller, and the two men went heads up to the flop.

The dealer spread out {K-Hearts}

. The small blind checked, and Raymer continued out with a bet of 2,500. His opponent folded, and Raymer said, "Did you know I had ace-king?" as he turned his {A-Spades}

face-up. He took down a little uncontested pot, and is crawling ever closer to the century mark with about 92,000 in chips.

Tags: Greg Raymer

08-07-2008 21:26 UTC-3

Brown in the Red

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First in from the cutoff seat, a player came in raising to 2,000. The button and small blind passed, but Chad Brown looked like he wanted to play from the big blind. He eyed up his opponent's stack before moving all in. The other player quickly called all in for a total of 11,625, tabling {Q-Diamonds}

. He had Brown's {6-Diamonds}

thoroughly dominated.

The board fell {A-Diamonds}

, and Brown shipped half his stack across the table. He is now back down just under his starting stack of 10,000.

Tags: Chad Brown

08-07-2008 21:38 UTC-3

The Trend of Play

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The pace of the action has polarized somewhat since the dinner break ended. Though there is a good bit of action, there are virtually no medium-sized pots. It seems that every pot is either taken down with a preflop raise or is hotly contested all the way to the end with at least one player ending up all in. We expect that trend to continue for the rest of the evening, especially late, as players look to double up or earn themselves two days off tomorrow and Saturday.

08-07-2008 21:46 UTC-3

Feature This

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The tournament staff has finally set up a featured table area, and the first group of players is being moved there now. The table, originally decked out in white cloth, had to be reconfigured because the cameras weren't picking up the cloth well. It is now donned in a smooth black gown, and Humberto Brenes, Mike Halioua, and the rest of their tablemates are making their way through the crowd and over to the set.

08-07-2008 21:52 UTC-3

The Numbers Game

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Our event this weekend has drawn a field of 351 runners, a bit shy of the 400 predicted at the start of the event by LAPT President Glenn Cademartori. Those entries have generated a respectable prize pool of $851,175.

Thirty-two players will finish in the money, with the bottom level payout being worth $5,960. The lucky person who manages to outlast all others will pocket $241,735 in cash, along with the trophy confirming him or her as the 2008 LAPT Punta del Este champion.

With the numbers in, all those remaining now have a clear goal in front of them.

Level: 8

Blinds: 400/800

Ante: 75

08-07-2008 22:24 UTC-3

Gill Breathes Easy

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Carter Gill is continuing his march toward the top of the leaderboard.

We pick up the action on the flop in a recent hand featuring Gill. The board shows {A-Clubs}

. The player first to act bets out 2,500, and Gill makes the call.

The turn brings the {6-Diamonds}

and both men check.

Carter Gill insists, "Nine!" as the dealer flips over the river card: {K-Hearts}

. His opponent leads out with another bet of 4,000, and Gill looks displeased. He begrudgingly flips a blue T5,000 chip into the middle, making the call. To his delight, his opponent says, "I got nothing," and open-mucks {3-Spades}