LAPT Punta del Este Main Event Day 2 | 2010 PokerStars.net LAPT Punta del Este

LAPT Punta del Este Main Event

Day 2 Completed

02-25-2010 12:20 UTC-12

Adios, Day 2!

Mickey Doft

Day 2 of the PokerStars.net LAPT Punta del Este began with 145 players. Ten hours and almost nine levels later, only 24 remain. The chip leader heading into the final three tables is Cesar F. Mostafa. He quietly built his chip stack level by level, ultimately ending the day with 529,000. Closest in chips to him is the last female left standing, Daniela de Lima Zapiello with 485,500.

Among the notables still in the field include Team PokerStars Pros Jose Ignacio Barbero and Humberto Brenes. Neither started the day with a ton of chips, but both are in the top ten with over 300,000. Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick's day was quite the roller coaster, but he finished with a solid 255,000.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow at noon local time for what promises to be an exciting day on the felt as we play down to the final table. Until then, goodnight and buenas noches from Punta del Este!

Tags: Cesar Mostafa

02-25-2010 12:10 UTC-12

Howard Can't Duck D'Alessio

[user66118]

Pascual Antonio D'Alessio raised to 14,500 from late position, and Paul Howard made the call from the big blind and on a relatively short stack.

Heads up, the flop came down {Q-Hearts}

. After a check from Howard, D'Alessio fired out a continuation bet of 21,000. Without wasting any time, Howard waved his hands forward in that familiar all-in gesture. D'Alessio shrugged and made the call with plenty of chips to spare.

Showdown
Howard: {6-Hearts}

D'Alessio: {7-Hearts}

The showdown wasn't much fun for Howard, and all he could really do was chuckle at his plight. The turn {9-Clubs}

ended the hand, Howard now drawing dead and resigned to his 25th-place finish. The {10-Diamonds}

that landed on the river sent him to the payout desk and brought out the chip bags, signaling the end of Day 2.

Tags: Pascual Antonio D'Alessio Paul Howard

02-25-2010 11:58 UTC-12

Man Down; One More To Go

Mickey Doft

With the elimination of Nemesio Carracedo, we are down to 25 players. Play will end after the next elimination.

02-25-2010 11:54 UTC-12

Double Up For The Shark

Mickey Doft

We arrived at Humberto Brenes' table just in time to see a huge pot headed his way.

The board read {8-Diamonds}

and Brenes' {6-Spades}

was plenty good against his opponent's {10-Diamonds}

. After the hand, Brenes is up to 360,000.

Tags: Humberto Brenes

02-25-2010 11:46 UTC-12

Chidwick Chipping Up; Burzaco Busto

Mickey Doft

When we first made it into the money, Stephen "stevie444" Chidwick was in shove mode. He can sit a little more comfortably now.

He put in raise from the hijack and Alejandro Burzaco, on the button, went all in for about 70,000. Action folded back to Chidwick and he made the call with {A-Spades}

, but was trailing Burzaco's {A-Diamonds}

.

However, the board ran out {4-Clubs}

and Chidwick took it down. He is now at 240,000.

Tags: Alejandro Burzaco Stephen Chidwick

02-25-2010 11:42 UTC-12

Mostafa On Top

[user66118]

There haven't been any earth-shattering pots involving either of them, but it appears that Cesar Mostafa has worked his way past Daniela de Lima Zapiello and into the chip lead. The last count puts him just over 500,000, while Zapiello has taken a few small hits back to about 420,000.

Overall, the action is rather slow and tedious for the time being, though that number on the big board keeps tick-ticking down towards our goal of 24. It currently sits at 27, but it appears that there's a bit of a disturbance over in the corner as we speak...

02-25-2010 11:27 UTC-12

Adios, Atkinson

[user66118]

A preflop raising war broke out that left Bruce Atkinson all in and at risk against Gil Morgensztern. Neither player seemed particularly eager to table their cards, so there was about a 15-second standoff before the cards were flnally flipped up:

Atkinson: {J-Hearts}

Morgensztern: {Q-Hearts}

There wasn't much Atkinson could to about it, riding his shortening stack as far as he could. The dealer would provide no lifeline either, running out a board of {8-Diamonds}

.

That's another player down, and we're sitting with 27 players left. When three more of them follow Atkinson's footprints to the payout desk, Day 2 will be history.

Tags: Bruce Atkinson Gil Morgensztern

Level: 17

Blinds: 3,000/6,000

Ante: 500

02-25-2010 11:14 UTC-12

Maillard Next to Go

[user66118]

Joan Maillard open-shoved his short stack when the table folded around to his button. He had just about 40,000 left when he pushed in, and the big blind quickly made the call with the covering stack, tabling {9-Diamonds}

. Maillard was in danger and racing for his survival with {K-Spades}

.

Fate was not with Maillard for this race. The board ran out {A-Hearts}

. That pair of nines turned into a set of nines, and that was plenty good enough to sent Maillard to the payout desk in 32nd place. That's good enough for a pay bump up to $6,250. Not too shabby for two days' work.