There I was this morning at my hotel breakfast buffet, minding my own business, eating pineapple and melon and drinking tea (as previously advertised). Through a window and out of the corner of my eye I saw a woman run down the street. I didn’t think much about it until a second woman followed the first, dressed in a bright green high-performance swimsuit. Then I had two thoughts, in this order.
One: “That woman is running down the middle of the street.” Two: “Today is St. Patrick’s Day.”
Turns out today is also the running of a triathalon in Viña del Mar: a 1,500-meter swim, followed by 40 kilometers on a bike and a 10-kilometer run. That, in a word, is hardcore.
We’ll be slightly less hardcore inside the Casino Municipal at the final table of the 2013 PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour Chile National Poker Championship final table. Eight players will start playing at noon local time and won’t stop until one of them has all of the chips. No early word on whether any of them are planning to wear green.
The final table will be spearheaded by Jaime Zamanillo Mayol, who will return to a stack of 3.4 million with blinds at 25,000-50,000. Mayol is one of two Chilean players looking to keep the title in Chile. The other, Alejandro Chokakis, has more work to do. He’ll start with 1.29 million.
All eyes will be on one of the most dangerous men at the table – Team PokerStars Pro Jose “Nacho” Barbero. Barbero (2.85 million) will start the day second in chips. This is his 5th LAPT Main Event final table. Bear in mind that this event marks the 24th LAPT Main Event overall. That’s a pretty good strike rate for Barbero and it’s even better when you consider that he won two out of the four.
“My job is much easier than Nacho’s”, short-stacked Leonardo Martins said last night. “Shove shove shove”. Martins, a highly respected Brazilian player who is the reigning Brazilian Series of Poker Player of the Year, will start the day with just 9 big blinds. Joining Martins at the final table is another skilled Brazilian, Sergio Braga (1.46 million), who is at his second $1100 final table of the week. He finished as the runner-up at the BSOP event in Iguaçu last Tuesday.
Rounding out the final eight are three more Argentinians: Sebastian Marcel Miranda (1.5 million), Pablo Alexander Tavitian (1.91 million) and Fernando Javier Gordo (2.22 million). Any one of them could burst out of the middle of the pack to claim victory today.
It’s not a triathalon we’re running at today’s final table – but it’s not a sprint either. Stamina, focus, skill and the luck o’ the Irish are going to be needed in equal measures to produce a champion.
Seat 1: Sebastian Marcel Miranda (Argentina) – 1,505,000
Seat 2: Alejandro Chokakis (Chile) – 1,290,000
Seat 3: Leonardo Martins (Brazil) – 440,000
Seat 4: Jaime Zamanillo Mayol (Chile) – 3,400,000
Seat 5: Sergio Braga (Brazil) – 1,465,000
Seat 6: Pablo Alexander Tavitian (Argentina) – 1,915,000
Seat 7: Fernando Javier Gordo (Argentina) – 2,225,000
Seat 8: Jose “Nacho” Barbero (Argentina) – 2,850,000
Dave Behr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
¿Busca Ud. la transmisión en vivo de LAPT6 Chile en español? Haz click aquÃ.
Back to Top
