There were about 80 players in their seats to start the day’s first level, but by the time they edged toward the end of hour number two more than 200 had entered today’s Day 1B of the Latin American Poker Tour Grand Final Main Event in São Paulo.
As expected there are lots of familiar faces here from LAPTs past, including a few from just a day ago such as LAPT6 Peru Main Event champion Patricio Rojas of Chile, Brazilian Helio Neves who final tabled LAPT8 Peru four months ago (finishing sixth), and WCOOP winner Nicolas “PKaiser” Fierro of Chile who has cashed many times on the LAPT though still seeks his first title.
Meanwhile many more are jumping into LAPT Grand Final for the first time today, among them two-time LAPT Main Event champion Fabian Ortiz, 2014 World Series of Poker November Niner Bruno Politano, near November Niner Bruno Kawauti, and Jerson Backmann of Mexico who took third at last year’s LAPT Grand Final in Lima, Peru.
A couple of Americans are here as well. Jeff Gross has made the trip, winner of more than $2.3 million in live tournaments lifetime. And also here today is Brian Rast, the two-time WSOP bracelet winner who isn’t that far removed from having won a $7.5 million-plus prize in the $500K Super High Roller Bowl in Las Vegas this summer.
We’ll keep a watch to see who else arrives as the LAPT Grand Final field continues to grow.
Photography from LAPT8 Brazil by Carlos Monti. You can also follow the action in Spanish here and in Portuguese here.
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Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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