When the Latin American Poker Tour Peru Main Event crossed into Level 16, just 58 players were left — that is, three away from the cash.
With the burbuja about to burst, a couple of Argentinians had raced out ahead of everyone to sit atop the counts as the short stacks struggled. Andres Dos Santos was one, building a stack north of 300,000.
The tournament was then paused, empty seats were filled, making seven full eight-handed tables, and play resumed. Five hands went by with little excitement, then the familiar refrain of “all in and call” swiftly began circulating around the room on hand number six.
Chile’s Claudio Moya was all in for his last 70,000 or so with Jâ™ J♣ versus the A♦ K♣ of Leon Cordoba of Argentina who had him well covered. With reporters, photographers, staff, and a couple of massage therapists forming a ring around the action, the board was swiftly delivered, and when no ace or king or any other troubling combination arrived for Moya, he slapped the table, shouting “Bom!” as he gathered the chips that signified his continued tournament life.
A couple more hands passed, then with just a couple of minutes to go before the end of Level 16 and the scheduled dinner break, it happened again.
Peru’s Walid Mubarak — who took 13th in this same event during Season 6 and final-tabled LAPT5 Panama finishing fourth– was the player at risk this time, all in for less than Moya was versus start-of-day leader Chadi Moustapha of Lebanon. Mubarak hopefully turned over his Qâ™ Q♥ , but he’d run headlong into the A♣ Aâ™ of Moustapha.
With a resigned look Mubarak watched the board roll out 10♠4♠5♦ 6♦ A♥ . He then shrugged and wished the others luck, his look closer to a grin than chagrin as he departed.
We’ll be joining them as well. Back later for reports on the how that $807,396 gets divided.
Photography from LAPT8 Peru by Carlos Monti. You can also follow the action in Spanish here and in Portuguese here.
Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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