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

02-24-2010 10:03 UTC-12

Color-Up Break

Mickey Doft

The player are on a 15-minute break as the green chips worth 25 are being colored up.

02-24-2010 10:03 UTC-12

It's hard to catch Humberto Brenes involved in a pot, but we managed to just moments ago!

Under the gun, Brenes opened it up to 1,800. He found a call from a young player in the one seat, and the two men went heads up to the flop. It came out {J-Clubs}

, and both men checked. The turn brought the {A-Hearts}

and two more checks, and the {4-Clubs}

on the river put four to a flush on board.

When Brenes checked the last time, his opponent flicked a blue T5,000 chip into the pot. Humberto had just about 16,000 chips left, and he wasted no time making the call. His opponent's cards went straight into the muck, much to Humberto's delight.

He didn't have to table his hand to win the pot, and he initially did not. Then the chatter started. "You never bloff Humberto!" he said in that hilariously patronizing tone he's so adept at. "Humberto no bloff!" With that, he flashed the {9-Hearts}

. "That one's red!" he announced. Then, he flashed his other card, the {J-Hearts}

. "You see? This one's red too!"

"You were lucky this time," quipped his opponent, the two men smirking at each other.

"Lucky?? Lucky?!?" begged Humberto. Just for good measure, he repeated, "Humberto no bloff!"

Mr. Brenes is up to about 24,000 after that hand, the first time we've seen him above his starting stack all day.

02-24-2010 10:02 UTC-12

Salas Gets Stronger

Mickey Doft

The player in the cutoff opened to 1,650 and Damian Salas put in a re-raise from the big blind. After a short while, the player in the cutoff went all in for 26,850. Salas went into the tank for about three minutes, opting to make the call.

His opponent tabled {4-Spades}

and Salas was thrilled to see that, as he turned over {9-Diamonds}

. His overpair holding up wasn't a problem as the flop came down {9-Spades}

to give him unbeatable quads.

That pot boosted Salas' stack to over 130,000.

Tags: Damian Salas

02-24-2010 09:48 UTC-12

The Hammer Can't Smash Aces

[user66118]

We saw a chuckler of a contest over on Table 1, just as they were about to break that table. Jan Bendik was the preflop raiser on the button, and it looks like Christian Pereira flatted from the small blind.

The two men went off to the flop with a pot aof 4,800 in the middle. It came down {9-Spades}

, and Pereira checked. Bendik eyed up his stack and made a big covering bet. Pereira had 7,250 chips left, and he quickly called all in for his tournament life. Cards up, fellas.

Bednik: The mighty {7-Hearts}

Pereira: The lowly {A-Clubs}

The turn was a blank {3-Clubs}

, and the river {3-Spades}

failed to fill Bednik's flush. That spells a double up for Pereira, climbing almost all the way back to his starting stack. He's over 19,000 at the moment.

02-24-2010 09:33 UTC-12

Pasame!

[user66118]

We joined a battle of the blinds between Angelo Mancini and Nicasio Toranzo. The two men were heads up on a flop of {2-Clubs}

, and Mancini check-called a bet of 1,700.

Fourth street brought the {K-Hearts}

and another check from Mancini. Toranzo fired out 5,050 more, and his opponent made the call before the chips even hit the felt.

The last card off was the {10-Hearts}

, and Mancini passed again. When Toranzo made one last stab of 12,000, Mancini thought for just a moment's pause before flicking in the call. Toranzo immediately mucked his cards, and the dealer seemed a bit confused.

"Pasame!" Mancini ordered the chips pushed in his direction. Not content with the mountain of chips sliding toward him, he asked to see the mucked hand, and the dealer turned over Toranzo's airball {6-Spades}

.

Poker etiquette is still a work in progress down here at the LAPT.

02-24-2010 09:23 UTC-12

Chip Counts From the Poker Room

Mickey Doft

There are nine tables still playing in the poker room. Here are some notable chip counts:

Angel Guillen - 7,400
Leo Fernandez - 45,000
Fabrizio Gonzalez - 13,000
Humberto Brenes - 17,000
Alex Brenes - 34,000

02-24-2010 09:16 UTC-12

Meet Your Qualifiers

[user66118]

This edition of "Meet Your Qualifiers" comes to you courtesy of the man with the best name in the room.

We caught up with Lee Marvin Funk during the last break. And yes, we checked his passport to makes sure he wasn't trying to pull a fast one on us with his name. Story checks out. He is one of the myriad of online qualifiers who've made the trip down here to Uruguay, and he's come a long way.

Funk makes his home in Toronto, Canada where he lives with his wife Eilish and his two children, Christopher (7) and Lauren (5). He's a native Canadian, but his thick Irish accents hints at an interesting time in his life. For years, Funk was a resident of Ireland, and it was there in the Macau Club that he learned the ways of the flush draw and the check-raise.

There's plenty of live poker near Toronto, but Funk says he hardly ever makes it out to play cards. He won his way into this event via a $11+r on PokerStars. He qualified for just $22 after rebuying only once, at the beginning of the tournament. When he's not four-betting you out of your seat on PokerStars, Funk spends his time as a Master Electrician for his own construction company, Solus Renovations.

Funk has had a positive start to his tournament, and he's working with about 39,000 chips as the day begins to wind down.

Tags: Lee Marvin Funk