It have been an ideal week in Panama City, where along with enjoying the local cuisine and friendly people, we've appreciated the ever-growing city skyline and the engineering marvel of the Panama Canal. We've also witnessed numerous great poker, and after several days of chip stack construction just eight players remain, each hoping to make one last passage through to an LAPT title.
They're the lone survivors from a large 550-entry field, with Fabian Ortiz of Argentina the chip leader, three Mexicans still in contention, and Australia, Colombia, Jamaica, and Malta (by means of France) all still represented.
Last night ended with a lengthy final table bubble, lasting nearly three hours with many ups and downs, all-ins and double-ups. Our chip leader Ortiz well exemplified the changing fortunes affecting many of the final tablists, having begun the nine-handed play the shortest stack of the crowd only to finish the night bagging essentially the most chips.
Such a path was taken before by Ortiz in an LAPT Main Event, most notably back in 2009 on the LAPT2 Chile final table where he found himself at won point all the way down to just half a large blind only to come back all the strategy to secure the title and a $173,220 first prize.
Thus is the Argentinian still in position to sign up for his fellow countryman and Team PokerStars Pro Nacho Barbero as a two-time LAPT champion, a feat only Barbero has achieved in the course of the tour's first six-and-a-half seasons. But there is a good distance to go, with a table stuffed with tough contenders with whom Ortiz must contend.
Here's a glance at our remaining eight players.
Seat 1: Javier Rios (Colombia) -- 1,730,000
Javier Rios recently collected a contemporary win at the Colombia Poker Tour where the 31-year-old computer engineer took down a C$1,150,000 no-limit hold'em event back in February, topping a 220-entrant field including Carter Gill heads-up (who finished 31st here yesterday) to earn a payday worth greater than $26,000 USD.
Seat 2: Alexander Haber (Jamaica) -- 905,000
A couple of cashes on the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure highlight Alexander Haber's tournament career up to now. That's enough to position the 47-year-old businessman second currently at the all-time money list for Jamaican players behind Rory Chinn, but by making today's final table he's already assured himself enough to transport sooner than Chinn to top that list.
Seat 3: Hugo Lemaire (Malta) -- 755,000
A Frenchman playing from Malta, Hugo Lemaire brings essentially the most extensive tournament résumé to today's final table, having collected greater than $1.4 million in lifetime earnings. Highlights of the 27-year-old poker pro's achievements include a runner-up finish on the WPT Grand Prix de Paris in 2011 worth nearly $450,000, and reaching the semifinals within the $5,000 Mixed-Max event on the WSOP in 2012. This marks Lemaire's first profit an LAPT Main Event.
Seat 4: Hugo Suarez (Mexico) -- 1,940,000
An NL100 and NL200 cash game player, Hugo Suarez is a 24-year-old airplane pilot and poker pro. He has a few small side event cashes from EPT Tallinn and the PCA to his credit, though this may increasingly mark his most vital tourney score.
Seat 5: Nick Russo (Australia) -- 1,915,000
Hailing from Sydney, Australia, Nick Russo is a 26-year-old accountant who has a couple of small cashes during the last year, but like Suarez might be earning a career-high finish today without reference to where he ends up.
Seat 6: Antonio Hogaza (Mexico) -- 495,000
Another relative newcomer to the tournament poker scene, 47-year-old businessman Antonio Hogaza did pick up a cash this summer on the WSOP in a $1,000 NLHE event.
Seat 7: Guillermo Olvera (Mexico) -- 1,035,000
The third Mexican on the final table, 25-year-old Guillermo Olvera has several tourney scores to his credit already, enough to edge him right into a spot just outside his country's all-time top ten. He's cashed in a few LAPT Main Events before, his best prior finish being a 45th-place showing at LAPT6 Panama last September. He also cashed at EPT10 Barcelona that very same month, finishing 29th.
Seat 8: Fabian Ortiz (Argentina) -- 2,060,000
Aside from winning that LAPT2 Chile title, Ortiz has the honour of earning the most efficient ever finish for an Argentinian on the planet Series of Poker Main Event where he finished 17th in 2013 for a career-high $357,655 cash. The previous disco owner also additionally final tabled the PCA Main Event earlier this year, finishing eighth.
Here is how the payouts are scheduled for the overall eight spots:
1st: $158,485 2nd: $99,560 3rd: $71,280 4th: $55,560 5th: $43,580 6th: $34,240 7th: $25,560 8th: $17,700
Action gets going at 12 noon (Central time) at the seventh floor of the Veneto Wyndham Grand Hotel. We'll be here from begin to finish to bring all the action as we find together if Ortiz can secure a record-tying second LAPT title or if one in every of his opponents might be getting rid of the coveted LAPT Main Event trophy.
Photography from LAPT7 Panama by Carlos Monti. Click here for live updates in Spanish, and here for live updates in Portuguese. Also take a look at the start-to-finish live streaming coverage (in both Spanish and Portuguese) at PokerStars.tv.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Latin American Poker Tour]
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