Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) Rio de Janeiro, Day 2 – Julien Nuijten Heads Final
The second day of action in the PokerStars.com Latin American Poker Tour debut in Rio de Janeiro featured aggressive early action. Before the first break, of the 103 players who started play, 39 were eliminated.
The day began great for American Alex "Assassinato" Fitzgerald, who doubled up his chips against Brazil's Leo Burguês by hitting a flush on the turn after pushing all in post-flop. Burguês, in a different hand, flopped a royal flush. Fitzgerald would eliminate Burguês shortly after, becoming the leader of the tournament early in the day.
For the home-country Brazilians, the day was not good at all. Many of the local favorites who reached the second day were eliminated early in the day's action.
After the first break, the lead soon moved to Venezuelan Carlos Lopez, with just over 140,000 chips.
The bubble hand was interesting and time-consuming. Short-stacked Brazilian player Pirajibe limped on the button, and Juan Carlos Burguillos of Venezuela checked the big blind. The flop brought 2♥3♠6♦, and the two players checked. An 8♠ came on the turn and Burguillos opened for 3,000 chips, and Pirajibe snap-called. Before the river was dealt, the Venezuelan announced all in (which would put Pirajibe all in). The river was a 10♦, and the action went to Pirajibe, who thought for perhaps five minutes, until a clock was call. Pirajibe used his last minute and called, showing A♣8♣. The players went wild when Juan Carlos opened his 8♦2♦ and took the hand with two pair, and the money bubble was burst.
Here's how the prize money would be distributed for the surviving players:
Total Prize Pool: $ 785,000.00
1 - $ 222,940
2 - $ 117,750
3 - $ 86,350
4 - $ 62,800
5 - $ 47,100
6 - $ 31,400
7 - $ 23,550
8 - $ 15,700
9 - $ 11,775
10-12 - $ 10,205
13-16 - $ 8,635
17-24 - $ 7,065
25-32 - $ 5,495
Carlos Lopes, of Spain, who plays as "Djalminha" on PokerStars and was the Day One leader, was eliminated in 27th place, followed by Andrew Li who was involved in an exciting hand.
With raises and re-raises pre-flop, Li and Flemish player Julien Niijten ended by going all-in pre-flop in a pot with more than 600,000 chips. Andrew showed pocket kings and Julien pocket queens. The flop brought a queen, and a deuces on the turn and river gave Niijten a full house and a large leader in the tourney.
Victor Randim, the last surviving Team PokerStars player, was eliminated shortly after that hand. He was with short-stacked and psuhed with 6-6, and was called by Switzerland's Severin Walzer with K-Q, who hit a king and a queen on the flop, eliminating Victor.
The last two eliminated before reaching the final two tables were Brazilians Barba and Eugenio Carmo.
After a re-draw, Brazilian Ricardo Manecop was eliminated after going all-in short-stacked with 6-6 against the K-K of his opponent, but the hand that actually crippleded Manecop happened just before the semifinal, when his pocket kings lost to the A♠Q♥ of his opponent when a four-flush of spades hit the board.
15th place went to Micha Hoedemaker, who lost with A-K to the pocket aces of the Brazilian Alex CG. The flop and turn were blanks, and the king on the river did not help Micha.
The next to be eliminated was Andreas Karl, who re-raised all in over an Eduardo bet. After thinking for some time, Eduardo called with A-Q, while Andreas showed J♥5♥. An ace on the flop gave the hand to Eduardo, who eliminated Andreas.
Out next was Farhad, who hit two pairs on the flop at the same time that his opponent, Russia' Vitaly, hit a set. The chips went in on the turn, and the final table was only three eliminations away. 12th went to Barzil's Bruno JT, who pushed with a suited J-9 but ran into A-K and didn't improve.
"Assassinato" Fitzgerald, exited in 11th place when he got into a pre-flop all-in with Alex Brenes, brother of Humberto Brenes. Fitzgerald's A-Q led Brenes' A-7, but a seven on the river, meant Fitzgerald's day was over.
The tension increased at the the bubble, which popped with surprising speed. The Brazilian Alex CG raised pre-flop and was re-raised by chip leader Nuijten. Alex moved all in, and was promptly called. Alex had K-K and A-A. The aces held, and Alex was eliminated in 10th place.
With this, the final table was formed. These nine players will return today at 14:00pm (13:00pm ET) to determine the inaugural champion of the LAPT Rio de Janiero:
Player Country Chips
Julien Nuijten Holland 970,000
Vitaly Kovyazin USA 380,000
Alex Brenes Costa Rica 324,000
Nikolai Senninger Germany 318,000
Juan C. Burguillos Venezuela 297,000
Rafael Pardo Colombia 278,000
Eduardo Henriques Brazil 275,000
Oliver Kugler Germany 176,000
Severin Walser Switzerland 175,000
