Fabian Ortiz becomes first Latin American winner of a PokerStars LAPT event
FABIAN ORTIZ BECOMES FIRST LATIN AMERICAN WINNER OF AN POKERSTARS LAPT EVENT
Viña Del Mar, Chile – January 23, 2009: 39-year-old Fabian Ortiz, from Argentina, has become the first ever Latin American poker player to win a PokerStars.net LAPT title with his victory at the inaugural Chile event in Viña del Mar.
Ortiz, who lives in the rural province of Chaco, (pronounciation: Chako) defeated a strong field of players from 27 countries to take home the title and first prize of USD 141,426. A former disco owner he now does most of his dancing on the poker circuit where he has shown he is fearless on the felt with some success.
Latin American players dominated the starting field with almost every nation represented. 50 players were from the host country of Chile alone and every seat at the final table was taken by a player from Latin America - including Fabio Escobar, who won his seat to the event on PokerStars.
“Fabian Ortiz’s win demonstrates the growth of poker as a Latin American sport”, said LAPT President Glenn Cademartori. “This is our first event where the majority of the field was made up of Latin American players. We expect many more local champions as this sport continues to grow in popularity in the region.”
The LAPT Viña del Mar event, at the prestigious Viña del Mar Casino and Resort, attracted a host of international poker stars including Team PokerStars Pros Humberto Brenes from Costa Rica, Andre Akkari from Brazil, and the former Brazilian stock car racer and PokerStars sponsored player Gualter Salles. Also representing Costa Rica were Max and Maria Stern, the only married couple who have both won WSOP bracelets. Ortiz bested Argentinian Veronica Dabul, who cashed three times at the WSOP in 2008.
The next event on the LAPT tour will be in Punta del Este, Uruguay in March, followed by the season finale in Mar del Plata, Argentina in April. All the LAPT events will be broadcast by ESPN in Latin America later in the year.
Visit http://www.lapt.com for more information; for LAPT Viña del Mar reports, visit the PokerStars blog at http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/ and http://www.pokerstars.tv.
Final Table / Payouts
| Name | Country | PokerStars Status | $ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fabian Ortiz | Argentina | $141,426 | |
| 2 | Vincenzo Gianelli | Venezuela | $78,570 | |
| 3 | Damian Salas | Argentina | $52,380 | |
| 4 | Leandro Balotin | Brazil | $39,285 | |
| 5 | Hernan Villa | Colombia | $28,809 | |
| 6 | Fabio Escobar | Brazil | PokerStars Qualifier | $23,571 |
| 7 | Jyries Saba | Chile | $18,330 | |
| 8 | Eduardo Camia | Argentina | $13,095 | |
| 9 | Jaime Ateneloff | Uruguay | $10,476 |
About www.pokerstars.net
PokerStars is the world’s largest poker room with over 16 million members worldwide, and more free-to-play tables than any other site. At PokerStars.net players learn how to play, and practice poker skills for free. As the premier destination for the top players, with numerous tournaments running every day, PokerStars is renowned for offering the best software and security in the online poker world.
- Has dealt over 23 billion hands
- Has run more than 100 million poker tournaments
- Have had over 213,000 simultaneous players, and entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the first and only poker website to reach the 160,000 simultaneous players mark
PokerStars is the official sponsor of the: European Poker Tour (www.ept.com), PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Latin American Poker Tour (www.lapt.com), Asia Pacific Poker Tour (www.appt.com) and The World Cup of Poker. PokerStars is the home of Team PokerStars Pro, a group of 29 veteran and up-and-coming players from around the world who play online at PokerStars and are sponsored by the site in international tournaments around the world. For more information please visit www.pokerstars.net.
Press Contact
Argentina: Alejo Zagalsky - Ketchum
e: alejo.zagalsky@ketchum.com.ar
t: +1 5411-4832-7700
Brazil: Ana Luiza – Xpress
e: ana.ponciano@xpressonline.com.br
t: +55 11 3054 9785
USA: Matt Clark - Lotus Public Relations
e: matt.clark@lotus-pr.com
t: +1 212-922-5885
