LAPT Punta del Este Main Event Day 1 | 2010 PokerStars.net LAPT Punta del Este

LAPT Punta del Este Main Event

Day 1 Completed

02-24-2010 11:47 UTC-12

Adios, Day 1!

[user66118]

A thrilling opening day of the PokerStars.net LAPT Punta del Este has come and gone. In true Latin American fashion, the day was a successful and entertaining one with tons of action and even more table chatter. At the end of eight action-packed levels, it appears that Martin Fuentes has bagged up the largest stack, his 118,000 chips barely fitting into his thin plastic bag. That's good news for the locals; Fuentes is one of the many players battling it out for his native Uruguay.

A total of 307 runners showed up at the wonderful Mantra Resort this afternoon, ready to duke it out in the third annual version of this event. Their entries generated a total prize pool in excess of $1,000,000. Neither of the previous two champions were on hand this time around, so we're guaranteed to crown a new victor come Saturday's final table.

A surprisingly solid contingent of familiar faces were in attendance, including Neil Channing, Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick, Jose "papadelpoker" de la Guardia, and Damian Salas. The Team PokerStars Pros were also very well represented, not surprisingly. Check out this list of those who represented their Latin American roots today:

Argentina: Leo Fernandez, Jose Ignacio Barbero, Veronica Dabul
Brazil: Maria "Maridu" Mayrinck, Alexandre Gomes, Andre Akkari, Gualter Salles
Costa Rica: Humberto Brenes
Mexico: Christian de León, Angel Guillen

And, representing his rather far-away roots, we had Pieter de Korver from the Netherlands. Unfortunately for many of the Team PokerStars Pros, including de Korver, Day 1 was a tough and unkind day. Salles was one of the first to make his exit, and he was soon joined on the rail by Gomes, Akkari, and Guillen.

The board tells us that 145 players have survived this opening day, though it's likely to be a shade fewer when the bags are tallied and verified. We're hedging our bets on Fuentes as the top dog, but there are more than a few players right within striking distance. We'll post the full overnight chip counts as soon as they're available to us.

That does it for Day 1 here. We'll see you right back here tomorrow at noon local time for what promises to be another riveting day on the felt. Until then, goodnight and buenas noches from Punta del Este!

Tags: Martin Fuentes

02-24-2010 11:36 UTC-12

Fuentes Makes Furious Charge to Chip Lead

Mickey Doft

Martin Fuentes ended the day on a nice heater, storming to the chip lead.

On his third to last hand, he limped in from middle position. The player in the small blind went all in for just over 10,000 and Fuentes called immediately with {A-Hearts}

. His opponent tabled {Q-Spades}

and found no help on the board as it rolled out {4-Diamonds}

.

Fuentes ended day one as the chip leader with 118,000.

Tags: Martin Fuentes

02-24-2010 11:23 UTC-12

Three to Go

[user66118]

The clock has been paused with ten minutes left in the final level. A card was plucked from the deck, and it was a trey, so we'll play three more hands on each table before calling it quits.

02-24-2010 11:16 UTC-12

Panno Climbing Upstairs

[user66118]

We know that Ernesto Panno is battling for the overnight chip lead as the minutes wind down here, so we went upstairs to have a look. Wouldn't you know it, we found him tangling in a pot with Alex Brenes.

On a board showing {J-Hearts}

, Panno fired out a final bet of 8,500, nearly a full-pot bet. Brenes thought it over for just a minute before flicking in the calling chips. It was a bad call. Panno tabled {10-Hearts}

for the straight, and Brenes could only chuckle. He twirled his cards in between his hands for a moment before flinging them back in the muck.

We couldn't make out his cards, but the table seemed to agree that he had called with two pair. Either way, the chips go to Panno, pushing him up into what is likely the chip lead with 110,000.

02-24-2010 11:00 UTC-12

Bunched in the Middle

[user66118]

The polarizing of the stacks that was the theme of the early action has turned around completely. After a number of players jumped out to counts of 80,000 and 90,000, the field has settled down, and the stacks have drawn more even. As far as we can tell, Damian Salas is still the big stack in the field with just over 90,000 chips. That's right where he was some three levels ago.

To our eyes, nobody is currently over 100,000, despite several players having crossed that milestone at one point or another today. On the contrary, there are a huge group of players all hovering in the 60,000-70,000 range.

We'll have to see how this last half hour of action plays out. The clock shows 156 players remain.

02-24-2010 10:38 UTC-12

De Leon Just a Paper Tiger Now

[user66118]

A player in middle position limped into the pot, and the small blind followed suit by completing. In the big blind, Christian de Leon shoved all in for 7,300 total. The middle-position player made the call, and the small blind ducked out to put de Leon heads up for his tournament life.

Showdown
Limper: {10-Hearts}

de Leon:

The flop was, well, unkind to the at-risk Team PokerStars Pro. It came out {K-Clubs}

to give his opponent the straight and leave him drawing dead to a running miracle. The {Q-Hearts}

on the turn ended the hand right there, and a meaningless {5-Spades}

is the last river card de Leon will see today. He's been eliminated.

Tags: Christian de Leon

02-24-2010 10:29 UTC-12

Calling For a Race

[user66118]

Carlos Lama opened the pot to 1,600 from middle position before Jhon Calderon moved all in for his final 11,800. Lama tanked for several agonizing minutes before making the call with the covering stack.

Showdown
Lama: {6-Clubs}