On the primary few days of this event, we relied heavily on our Latin American colleagues to show the who's who of LAPT regulars (that is my first time covering an LAPT, and the similar goes for my colleague Will, and we couldn't be happier to be here). So, to Carlos, Reinaldo, and Sergio, we are saying thanks. We couldn't have done this reporting without you.
Even back on those Day 1s, though, there have been still a couple of faces we did recognise. Whether they'd won big titles at the LAPT, or had big wins and deep runs in well-known events elsewhere, one of the vital players were so talented that their reputation preceded them. Bruno Politano was still here for one; as was Richard Dubini and Fabian Chauriye - players we've been following all of the way.
What were the chances, then, that out of the 565 players who entered this event, we'd finally end up with any such stacked final table of nine right on the end of it? Pretty slim, I'd say. Shall we only take eight through with us to the official final table tomorrow though, so we needed to lose one. And that one was arguably the most important name of them all.
So, who're our talented final eight? Who did we lose today? And just how long did it take to divide our Day 3 starting field of 32 by four? Let me tell you.
Final table chip leader Rodrigo Strong
First off, we will be able to inform you that Brazil's aptly-named Rodrigo Strong may be our final table chip leader tomorrow with 2,482,000. He had a surge near the beginning of the day and shot up into the millions quickly. It was all smooth sailing after that.
The bad news? We lost Brazil's former November Niner Bruno Politano right on the end of the day in 9th ($12,460). The person referred to as Foster has played exceptionally throughout this tournament, but his fate was all the way down to the Poker Gods after he moved all-in for 720,000 with A♥K♣ and was called by Argentina's Richard Dubini who held Q♣Q♦. It ran out T♥4♣J♣J♠9♥ and we lost Politano from LAPT9 Chile.
Bruno Politano (right) finished in 9th, Ricardo Matamala still in
Let's rewind to the beginning of the day. 32 players returned and it was Ricardo Matamala (above, left) who led all of them. He had a sexy steady day and not really got into any chip trouble, and can therefore return tomorrow short-stacked with 452,000.
But we lost numerous other former chip leaders throughout play today, including two-time LAPT champ Fabian Ortiz (26th - $4,500), Fancisco 'Tomate' Benitez (16th - $6,700), and Manuel Urrejola (15th - $7,600). Ortiz lost a race with pocket sevens against A-K and it just didn't fall his way. He'll need to wait until LAPT9 Panama in May to win that third title.
The action was thick and fast between then and the overall nine though - we lost players at a rapid pace. Folks who left included Javier Venegas (14th - $7,600), Alejandro Rodriguez (13th - $8,7000), and Alfredo Torres (10th - $10,240).
Javier Venegas couldn't make it
That left us with nine. We had the aforementioned Bruno Politano, Rodrigo Strong, Fabian Chauriye, Richard Dubini, and Ricardo Matamala, in addition to Aqviles Espinoza, Alex Vega, Roberly Ferico, and citing the rear was short-stack Carlos Pohmasevic. He entered the overall table with only some big blinds, but managed to cling on and end the day with 408,000 - just ten big blinds.
Richard Dubini and Fabian Chauriye are worth mentioning here; like we said originally of this wrap, we've been following their play from the get-go. That's because Dubini is a web-based beast with almost $800,000 in live earnings, while Chauriye came 16th within the PCA Main Event in January.
Argentina's Richard Dubini
Chile's own Fabian Chauriye
After Politano busted, here's how they stack up for tomorrow's final table, in order to begin at 12pm.
| 1 | Fabian Chauriye | 1,004,000 |
| 2 | Richard Dubini | 2,174,000 |
| 3 | Aqviles Espinoza | 946,000 |
| 4 | Rodrigo Strong | 2,482,000 |
| 5 | Alex Vega | 1,427,000 |
| 6 | Roberly Felicio | 2,301,000 |
| 7 | Ricardo Matamala | 452,000 |
| 8 | Carlos Pohmasevic | 408,000 |
It's going to be an excellent finish to LAPT9 Chile, with all of the players now guaranteed a min-payout of $15,780. So be sure you get back and join us tomorrow for all of the live updates and more. Within the meantime, you'll return and skim the entire Day 3 live updates here.
For now, that is the PokerStars Blog team signing off. Vamos!
All photos by Carlos Monti.
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Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Latin American Poker Tour]
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