PokerStars.net LAPT Florianopolis Day 1 Recap: Habernig Heads Field
The PokerSars.net Latin American Poker Tour took to Florianopolis, Brazil, on Thursday for the first day of play. The second-to-last stop drew 356 players, all putting up a $2,500 buy-in required to play. Only eight levels of play were slated for action for the first day and when it was over, Matthias Habernig from Austria emerged as the top contender, bagging up 130,350 chips.
Habernig was the beneficiary of a set-over-set confrontation that saw him storm to the chip lead in Level 6 when the blinds were 150/300 with a 25 ante. When we arrived at the table, the flop read 9♣8♥2♣ between Habernig and one other player. Habernig was facing a pot-sized bet of 4,400. He decided to raise the action, making it 10,025 to go. His opponent reraised all-in for over 33,000. Habernig instantly made the call, rolling over top set with the 9♦9♥. His opponent was drawing ever so slim with the 2♥2♦.
After a 6♣ fell on the turn, followed by a J♠ on the river, Habernig was pushed the pot that saw him soar over 100,000 in chips. He didn’t need much help from there and never looked back.
Also making it through to Day 2 with chips are Felipe Ramos with 105,900, Mario Masciotro with 102,975 and Raphael Pinheiro with 98,625. All three are joined in the clump of players that trail Habernig.
Angel Guillen had himself a very solid day, putting his WSOP-bubble woes behind him to finish the day with over 75,000 in chips. Guillen began the day on the table of death, which included fellow Team PokerStars pros Maria "Maridu" Mayrinck, Andre Akkari and Jose Ignacio Barbero, but that didn’t stop him from getting off to a blistering start. He eliminated Akkari early on after cracking the Brazilian’s pocket kings with the old 7♠5♠ to take the chip lead early and ride a big stack from there.
Ross Bybee ended with 67,450 in chips and is only here at LAPT Florianopolis for $1. Bybee won a micro satellite online and was able to more than triple his starting stack in hopes of turning a single Washington into many, many Benjamins.
On the other side of the spectrum, about half of the field was eliminated during the day including some notable pros. Team PokerStars pro Victor Ramdin was here along with teammate and defending World Series of Poker Main Event champion Joe Cada. Both lasted several levels into the day but failed to make it to the bag-and-tag part of the night. Cada went down after he four-bet shoved pocket queens out of the big blind over a raise and a reraise. The three-bettor held pocket kings and there was no miracle suckout for Cada this time around.
Also hitting the rail were Team PokerStars pros Alexandre Gomes, Christian de Leon, Gualter Salles and Humberto Brenes. Former Spring Championship of Online Poker winner Elliot Lee also fell. Out the aforementioned table of death, only Guillen survived the day, which brings us to our next point.
Barbero, better known as “Nacho” in the Latin American poker world, will not be winning his third LAPT title in a row. Barbero was one of the many players that Guillen sent to the rail on Day 1. He had a rough start to the day when he lost a big pot very early to Mayrinck and couldn't seem to get much going from there. His 5♣4♣ turned a flush on the K♣J♣10♠7♣ board, only to see Guillen hold the nut flush with the A♣6♣. The man with back-to-back titles from Punta del Este and Lima here in Season 3 of the LAPT won’t be adding Florianopolis to his trophy case. With Barbero drawing dead when the money went in, so were his chances of a three-peat.
Play resumes at noon local time in Brazil on Friday for Day 2, and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to provide all the live updates from the floor.
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