The last two eliminations of Day 3 have come in the Latin American Poker Tour Grand Final Main Event, meaning play has ended and the eight-handed final table has been set.
At tomorrow’s final table there will be six Brazilians and two Chileans. It’s crowded at the very top of the leaderboard, but at night’s end it was Afonso Henrique of São Paulo earning the honors as the overnight leader after bagging a big stack of 2,885,000.
As the first eliminations came it was Felipe Difini racing to the top of the counts, becoming the first player to accumulate a million chips. But the pace remained slow in the early going, with only a couple more knockouts coming over the next hour-plus.
Three LAPT Main Event champions still remained with 26 left, including two who had won their titles right here in São Paulo. LAPT4 Brazil champ Alex Manzano would next go out in 26th, however. Then LAPT6 Peru winner Patricio Rojas — second in chips to start the day — would fall in 21st, leaving just last year’s LAPT Brazil winner Caio Hey with a chance for title number two.
Ariel Celestino was another player with a big stack yesterday and in contention early today, but he would become short and then go out in 20th. Not too much later they were down to the last two tables, and after Thiago “KKremate” Crema went out in 16th, Caio Hey’s run ended in 15th, making it two straight deep finishes in this event for the LAPT7 Brazil champion.
Then it was start-of-day leader Piekazewicz making a big three-bet all-in before the flop versus Afonso Henrique with the latter calling. Piekazewicz had 6♣ 6♥ and Henrique A♣ Q♥ , and a board of K♣ 8♣ 7♣ 10♥ 3♣ added up to a better flush for Henrique and a 10th-place finish for Piekazewicz (worth R$58,790).
A couple of orbits in, Andrés Herrera opened from middle position, Henrique called from the hijack, then Felipe Salgado reraise-pushed his last 575,000 (not quite a dozen BBs) and only Herrera called.
Salgado had A♥ J♥ but was dominated by Herrera’s A♦ K♥ , and after the board ran out 4♥ 10â™ A♣ 2♦ Qâ™ Salgado was out in ninth (R$68,400) and the final table was set.
1. Afonso Henrique (Brazil) — 2,885,000
2. Andrés Herrera (Chile) — 2,735,000
3. Yuri Martins (Brazil) — 2,710,000
4. Alexandre Rivero (Brazil) — 1,490,000
5. Ricardo Chauriye (Chile) — 1,345,000
6. Gustavo Lopes (Brazil) — 580,000
7. Carlos Alves (Brazil) — 545,000
8. Bruno Kawauti (Brazil) — 495,000
Or, if you prefer, according to seat assigments:
Seat 1: Alexandre Rivero (Brazil) — 1,490,000
Seat 2: Afonso Henrique (Brazil) — 2,885,000
Seat 3: Ricardo Chauriye (Chile) — 1,345,000
Seat 4: Yuri Martins (Brazil) — 2,710,000
Seat 5: Bruno Kawauti (Brazil) — 495,000
Seat 6: Gustavo Lopes (Brazil) — 580,000
Seat 7: Carlos Alves (Brazil) — 545,000
Seat 8: Andrés Herrera (Chile) — 2,735,000
They’ll reconvene a little earlier tomorrow, starting at 1 p.m. local time (that’s 10 a.m. ET and 4 p.m. CET). Join us again then and we’ll share some background on the final eight, then find out together who among them becomes the last LAPT Main Event champion of Season 8. Até amanhã!
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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