2010 PokerStars.net LAPT Rosario

Main Event
Day: 1
Event Info

2010 PokerStars.net LAPT Rosario

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
ak
Prize
$322,280
Event Info
Buy-in
$4,700
Prize Pool
$1,176,200
Entries
254
Level Info
Level
26
Blinds
25,000 / 50,000
Ante
5,000

Main Event

Day 1 Completed

Day 1 Wrapped in Rosario; PKaiser Way Out in Front

Cameras capture the action as Nicolas Fierro takes over the chip lead.
Cameras capture the action as Nicolas Fierro takes over the chip lead.

This afternoon, 254 players flooded into the plush ballroom at the City Center Casino in Rosario, Argentina to kick off the final stop of the Latin American Poker Tour's third season. After eight levels, close to 130 hopefuls remain. Chilean online hotshot Nicolas "PKaiser" Fierro ended the night with a stack large enough to dwarf his competition.

With 30 minutes left in the day, Brazilian Hugo Franca was the chip leader by a large margin. Then he tried to bluff-shove Fierro off of the stone nuts, which went rather poorly for him. A few minutes after that, Franca donated another sizable chunk of his stack to Fierro. PKaiser ended the night with 278,200, making him the undisputed chip leader. Mario Niciforo with 130,000 and Arnaldo Mesas with 116,600 are also at the top of the list, though their chip bags seem small in comparison to Fierro's.

Pros Terrance Chan, Dennis Phillips, Maria Mayrinck, and Damian Salas will all be back for Day 2 as well. Several other big names weren't as lucky. Chris Moneymaker was among the day's earliest casualties. Fellow Team PokerStars Pros Alexandre Gomes, Gualter Salles and Victor Ramdin also hit the rail during the day.

Day 2 action begins at 12:00 local time on Friday. Keep your browsers pointed at PokerNews for all the latest.

Monster Pot at the End of the Night

Hugo Franca
Hugo Franca

Nicolas "PKaiser" Fierro and Hugo Franca were at it again in the final hands of Day 1. We picked up action on the river when there was about 80,000 in the pot and a board reading {8-Clubs}{2-Hearts}{K-Clubs}{2-Diamonds}{5-Clubs}.

Franca checked the river and Fierro fired out a massive 70,000 bet. Franca was clearly frustrated as he counted his chips, discovering he'd be left with only 25,000 if he made the call and lost. Regardless, Franca called with his {A-Diamonds}{K-Diamonds}. Unfortunately for him, Fierro held {A-Hearts}{A-Clubs} to take down the monster pot and vault himself into the chip lead with 278,200. Meanwhile, Franca was left with a mere morsel of his former stack . . . one he had less than an hour ago.

Tags: Hugo FrancaNicolas Fierro

Four to Go

The clock is stopped and each table is playing its final four hands. After that, they'll bag and tag before heading off into the Argentinian night (or at least into the massive City Center Casino).

Clash of the Big Stacks

Clearly we weren't being too cautious when we put our money on Hugo Franca simply to make Day 2. By the river of a boarding reading {k-Spades}{q-Hearts}{3-Diamonds}{10-Diamonds}{9-Diamonds}, Franca was heads up in a sizable pot with another big stack. He tried an all-in bluff, but his opponent, Nicolas "PKaiser" Fierro was only too happy to call with {a-Diamonds}{k-Diamonds} for the stone nuts. Franca's {4-Diamonds}{4-Spades} wasn't even close.

After doubling Fierro, Franca was left with 135,000, still enough to be among the chip leaders. But suddenly Fierro was the big man on campus with over 150,000.

Tags: Hugo FrancaNicolas Fierro

Phillips Keeps On Trucking

Dennis Phillips
Dennis Phillips

Dennis Phillips was under the gun and raised to 2,200. Action folded to the cutoff who made the call. After the blinds got out of the way, the dealer flopped {K-Diamonds}{Q-Clubs}{5-Spades}.

Phillips continuation bet 3,000 only to have his opponent raise to 7,700. Phillips went into the tank and counted the 22,000 he had left behind. After about two minutes, Phillips committed his entire stack to the pot. The cutoff was none too pleased as he tossed his cards in the muck and allowed Phillips to chip up to 38,000.

Tags: Dennis Phillips

Big Stack Poker

Hugo Franca has been busy putting his huge stack to use. In a recent hand, the under the gun player raised to 2,000 only to be reraised to 5,200 by Jose Ignacio Barbero from the cutoff. Neither player seemed to worry about Franca in the big blind, who ended up four-betting to 15,100. Both the original raiser and Barbero mucked in frustration as Franca added even more to his monster stack.

Tags: Hugo FrancaJose Ignacio Barbero

Hugo's Humongous Stack

Hey, check out my chip stack!
Hey, check out my chip stack!

Brazilian player Hugo Franca looked to be the chip leader when he had around 110,000. A few minutes later, we went back to check on him, and he'd jumped to 215,000. That's nearly seven times chip average and enough to give Franca a 100k jump on his next closest competitors. Franca has just one cash in a major international tournament - a 327th place finish in this summer's World Series Main Event, good for $36,463.

A lot could change in the next 35 minutes, of course, but smart money is on Franca to make Day 2.

Tags: Hugo Franca