The remaining 23 players are now on a sixty-minute dinner break, and that means so are we! We'll leave you with some break time entertainment as Lynn Gilmartin calls the clock on Felipe Ramos. Join us back in an hour for all of the action as the LAPT Punta del Este reaches its exciting conclusion.
More often than not, being the Day 1 chip leader ends up being more of a curse than a gift. Often times it ends up being a shock that the person holding the most chips at the end of Day 1 even ends up cashing. This time around, however, Juan Garcia is out for blood.
Just coming off of winning a fair sized pot to boost him back into the chiplead, we found Garcia at it again as he raised to 18,000. This bet was met by a three-bet all in from Adriano Romeu for about 180,000. Action folded back to Garcia who nonchalantly announced a call.
Garcia:
Romeu:
Garcia's dominance continued, as the door card was the case jack. The board came and Garcia's top set awarded him another sizable pot, putting him at the top of the leaderboard going into the dinner break.
We missed the exact details of the hand, but can report that Ariel Celestino was all in and at risk for his final 210,000 holding against the of chip leader Guido Ruffini.
Celestino skyrocketed into the lead when the flop came . Celestino retained his lead through the turn and the river. With that loss, Ruffini has been knocked down to about 350,000, while Celestino is sitting pretty at 420,000.
Action folded to Francisco Neto on the button who popped it up to 22,000. Angel Guillen called from the small blind and the big blind opted to get out of the way.
The flop fell and Guillen check-called a bet of 20,000. The turn brought the and Guillen checked once again. Neto continued his aggression with a bet of 45,000 and Guillen called one more time.
Fifth street brought the and Guillen checked for a third time. Neto pushed out a stack of 80,000 and Guiellen went into the tank. Neo called the clock on Guillen who continued to ponder a decision.
With only five seconds remaining, Guillen threw away his hand. Neto pushed his hand to Guillen and told him to pick one. Guillen merely shrugged and Neto flipped up the to the table.
Ivan Luca opened to 20,000 from under the gun. Pablo Melogno called from the hijack and Francisco Neto decided to tag along from the small blind.
were spread out in front of the three players. Both Neto and Luca checked to Melogno who fired out 23,000. Neto got out of the way and Luca called.
Both players checked when the turned and put a second pair on the board. The river was the and Luca bet 18,000. Melogno quickly called but neither players would turn over their hands. After being forced to, Luca showed and was beaten by Melogno's .
Action folded to Cristian Lopez who raised to 20,000 from the cutoff. Antonio Guedes made it 75,000 from the big blind and Lopez moved all in for about 125,000 total. Guedes called and was ahead holding . Lopez held and was in dire need of help.
The board fell and Guedes ace-queen high was enough to eliminate Lopez.
Ivan Luca started the day as chip leader, but he has been relatively quiet until now. Luca opened the action preflop for 13,000 only to find Dante Lenell move all in for roughly 65,000. Luca called and the hands were turned over:
Luca:
Lenell:
Luca found himself in a tremendously good position when the flop came . The turn and river brought the and respectively, and Lenell was sent home,a victim of Luca's flopped full house.