A second and final Day 1 flight has safely landed, and after 10 one-hour levels of poker Felipe Costa of Brazil appears to have bagged the most chips of those flying Day 1B. Costa finished with 142,700, the best of today’s group although Day 1A leader Nicholas Fierro will start tomorrow’s Day 2 still well in front with 197,500.
All arriving for today’s Day 1B would be chasing Fierro who bagged more chips than anyone last night by a considerable amount. Early levels resembled a leisurely drive through the inviting Chilean landscape, until more players arrived to increase the traffic and jam the tables — and eventually jam some chips.
Expectations were great for all, although of a different sort for one absent player — Team PokerStars Pro Leo Fernandez expecting the birth of his first child.
However Fernandez’s two teammates, Andre Akkari and Christian de Leon, were both able to represent the red spade through to the end of play today. Akkari ended the night with a short stack of 18,300, but de Leon survived to bag a healthy 128,500 — one of the top stacks of the day.
Side events and other activities including heads-up matches with the Intellipoker crew helped make the afternoon more festive. But as the afternoon slid toward evening play tightened up, with eliminations only coming in earnest following the dinner break and the end of reentries.
Carlos Zapata of Chile emerged early in the evening session as a chip leader, the first Day 1B player to reach six figures. It appeared as though he might end the day with the most chips in the room, but the final count had him bagging 142,000 — just a few less than Costa.
Like Fierro, Zapata harbors hopes of becoming Chile’s fifth LAPT Main Event champion, although Argentina — leading all countries currently with eight titles — likewise looks to win here and make it three straight for them in Chile.
Once everything was tallied, the total number of entries added up to 410, with the $904,460 prize pool just about matching that of a year ago.
The top 55 finishers will be dividing those riches, with $4,440 representing a min-cash and a handsome first prize of $175,320 due the winner. Click here for the full schedule of payouts.
Among those unable to advance to tomorrow’s Day 2 were Gonzalo Valenzuela, Emanuel Marso, Pablo Tavitian, Leo Galle, Samar Hodali, Amos Ben, Ariel Celestino, and Mario Lopez.
Meanwhile among others building big stacks on Day 1B was Yury Kerzhapkin who ended with 140,000.
Andres Jeckeln also did well on Day 1B to collect 137,600), while Rodrigo Perez (124,100), Horacio Fernando Nicolas (113,700), Mauricio Rodriguez (110,200), Diego MuƱoz (104,800), Nicolau Villa-Lobos (98,700), and Julian Menendez (96,800) likewise ended well above the average.
A total of 91 players from today’s starting group made it through Day 1B to tomorrow. Click here for a complete list of their chip counts.
They’ll join the 48 Day 1A survivors, meaning 139 will return tomorrow when the two Day 1 flights combine. Play resumes at 12 noon local time tomorrow for Day 2. Join us again then to follow the next leg of the LAPT Chile Main Event tourney journey as they advance another stage closer to finding a champion.
Photography from LAPT8 Chile by Carlos Monti. Watch the stream at LAPT Live. You can also follow the action in Spanish on the PokerStars blog and on Facebook, and in Portuguese on the blog and on Facebook.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
