Engelberth Varela, the third-place finisher at LAPT Punta del Este in August, is headed in the right direction so far on Day 1b.
We picked up the action on a flop. The pot was heads-up and it was checked to Varela, who bet 300. His opponent, though, put in a min-raise to 600. Varela called and when the hit the turn, his opponent bet 800. Another call from Varela led to the river. His opponent bet 3,200, making Varela a bit uneasy as he took off his sunglasses and studied the board.
After about 30 seconds, Varela did in fact call. His opponent was reluctant to show his hand, but was forced to a show for air. Varela tabled and took down the pot.
When it comes to the LAPT, there are a number of coveted races underway. Aside from the Player of the Year Leaderboard, there are other competitions taking place including the LAPT Shorthand Player of the Year, which can be seen below:
LAPT Shorthand Player of the Year Leaderboard
Position
Player
Points
Country
1
Sanyo Capobiango De Moura
525
Brazil
2
Ibon Rodrigues Munoz
525
Spain
3
Alberto Ribeiro Maia
525
Brazil
4
Daniel Ospina
490
Colombia
5
Shin Mitsumasu
490
Peru
6
Wilmer Diaz
490
Venezuela
7
Ben Haim
490
Chile
8
Hugo Labarthe
490
Peru
9
Grigory Liveshits
455
Canada
10
Albertino Viela
455
Brazil
At the end of the season, players will also have the opportunity to vote for the LAPT Achievement of the Year and LAPT Venue of the Year Awards. We imagine the Casino Allegre will be in contention for the latter.
We did our initial walk through of the tournament floor and have little doubt that it'll be another sell out. While there are currently a few empty seats scattered about, all the tables are being utilized and we expect those open spots to be filled by late registrants.
Among those who've taken their seats is Team PokerStars Pro (Brazil) and World Series of Poker bracelet winner Andre Akkari; who is seated just a few seats away from fellow Brazilian and PokerStars qualifier, Joao Henrique Lima.
The cards are in the air here on Day 1b of the LAPT Colombia. This marks the fifth stop of Season IV, so we thought we'd leave you with a look back at the first four winners as we head out to the floor to see who is here.
Welcome back to the Casino Allegre in the city of Medellín, Colombia for Day 1b of PokerStars.net’s Latin America Poker Tour, also known as the Colombia National Poker Championship. Yesterday, all thirty-three poker tables on the casino floor were sold out, meaning the field was capped at 330 players. We’re expecting the same turnout here today, which would bring the total field up to 660 players and make this the biggest LAPT Main event field in history!
Day 1a featured quite a few notables including Team PokerStars ProsAngel Guillen (Mexico), Christian de Leon (Mexico), and Nacho Barbero (Argentina). Unfortunately, none of them managed to make it through the day. On the other hand, fellow pros Humberto Brenes (Costa Rica) and Fredy Torres (Online) will both return on Day 2; in fact, it was Colombia-native Torres who emerged as the Day 1a chip leader with 207,000.
Today, a whole new field of players will take their seats and look to join the approximately 104 players who survived Day 1a. We expect to see a few more pros in attendance, with the PokerStars Program suggesting we could see Leo Fernandez (Argentina) and Andre Akkari (Brazil). In addition, there should be plenty of South American pros looking to catch the two Colombians, Pablo Gonzalez and Daniel Ospina, who currently sit atop the LAPT Player of the Year Leaderboard with 1,125 and 990 points, respectively.
Day 1b action is set to kick off at noon local time, which is about an hour and a half away. Be sure to keep it here at PokerNews for all of the action, eliminations, and excitement from Colombia.
flop. The pot was heads-up and it was checked to Varela, who bet 300. His opponent, though, put in a min-raise to 600. Varela called and when the 
hit the turn, his opponent bet 800. Another call from Varela led to the 
river. His opponent bet 3,200, making Varela a bit uneasy as he took off his sunglasses and studied the board.
for air. Varela tabled 
and took down the pot.
![[user116926]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
