Vina del Mar, Chile welcomed the Latin American Poker Tour for the second one stop in their Season 9 schedule, after the LAPT opened 2016 on the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. We're now back to the continental tour of South America and if Day 1A of LAPT9 Chile was any indication, this season goes to be massive.

In total, 258 players bought into this opening starting flight and that's an over 60% increase from last year's numbers, when 155 players battled within the first Day 1 session. The PokerStars blog opened today's coverage with a player that went through last year's Day 1 session and thru to the winner's circle, as Season 8 champion Oscar Alache was seated from the primary minute of play.

He quickly built a large stack and for a couple of levels, it appeared like Alache was trending towards an afternoon 1A chip lead en path to a record breaking third LAPT title. He'll must wait until tomorrow for that storyline to play out though, as he lost a big pot right before the overall break of the night. Fernando Reines was the player that sent Alache to the rail and while he ended the night with a 123,300 stack, this complete surviving field is asking as much as Sergio Palma.

Sergio Palma now holds the clubhouse lead with 167,500.

Palma peaked late and while he was relatively under the radar, he'll likely headline the action heading into Sunday's Day 2 session because the opening flight's chip leader. He ended with 167,500 within the bag and while his tournament resume doesn't exactly scream "future LAPT champion", his play through just today 1A flight does.

Behind Palma are players that likely began the day expecting to be on the top of the leaderboard, as a few of South America's most successful and consistent players took to the felt. Damian Salas was one in all them and while a handful of his countrymen fell, the Argentinian, who couldn't get himself out of the action if he tried, appeared to steadily climb. Within the end, he finished with 107,200 chips, good for fifth overall.

Brazil's Lucas Tabarin was just off the pace of chip leader Sergio Palma.

Other big stacks included Lucas Tabarin, who finished just off the pace of the Chilean leader, with 165,600. Andrius Bielskis finished over 100,000, in conjunction with Mauricio Zeman. Fabian Chauriye, fresh off a last two table run within the PCA Main Event, headlines the players right below that century mark, with 95,400. Daniela Horno was one among just two female players to seek out the bag, putting 73,800 for Day 2 and Bruno 'Foster' Politano rounds out the notable names from this 1A flight with 70,100. Those players is probably not near the highest of the leaderboard but they've no less than secured themselves an off day tomorrow, while one of the crucial bigger names that we saw inside the day should try again in Day 1B.

Defending champion Oscar Alache did not survive this present day 1A flight but he'll be back tomorrow.

Oscar Alache is one among them and he leads a 3 man group which might be all trying to make LAPT history this weekend. Fabian Ortiz and Mario Lopez are the opposite two two-time champions that did not survive Day 1A and we imagine they'll all be back able to fire at will come 12 PM tomorrow. Renata Teixeira, who finished 2nd on this event last year, might be joining them, after she did not get much traction today. Chile's own Nicolas "PKaiser" Fierro also didn't advance.

In total, 90 players advanced through this primary starting flight and if you wish to atone for the entire Day 1A action, the PokerStars blog's live updates are available here. That official number and people player's counts may be posted in a couple of hours. The PokerStars blog could be back previous to tomorrow's Day 1B flight begins at 12 PM and until then, buenas noches.

All photos by Carlos Monti.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Latin American Poker Tour]