2011 PokerStars.net LAPT Punta del Este Day 4: Komaromi Becomes LAPT Champion
The final table of the 2011 PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour Punta del Este Main Event lasted four and a half hours, but that was enough to crown a winner. Emerging victorious and becoming the first Uruguayan with an LAPT title was the chip leader entering the final table, Alex Komaromi, who earned $244,720 for his win after besting four Brazilians, one Argentinian, one Venezuelan and one Peruvian.
Although Komaromi began the day with a massive chip lead, he sat back and let the player who began the day second-in-chips, Engelberth Varela, do most of the dirty work to start. The first two players eliminated were both taken out by Varela. Those two were Rafael Monteiro and Fernando Arauja. Then, with six players remaining, Komaromi began to go to work, which began with sending Nelson Trad Neto to the rail in sixth place.
With A♥Q♠, Neto was at risk when he was all-in and racing against Komaromi's 8♥8♣. The board ran out K♣10♥5♠8♠A♠, giving Komaromi a turned set of eights to score him the elimination. About ten minutes later, Komaromi's 10♠10♦ held against Felipe Pasini's Q♦J♦ to leave only four players in contention for the title. Carlos Watanabe, who at no point had more than 15 big blinds, bowed out in fourth place to Varela.
With three players left, Varela fell to Komaromi after calling all-in on the river of a A♥7♣3♣Q♠5♠ board with A♦6♠. Komaromi had him out-kicked with A♣8♣ to take a massive nine-to-one chip lead into heads-up play. It was then that things got bumpy for the the Uruguayan. His opponent, Claudio Piedrabuena, proved to be a formidable opponent. It only took Piedrabuena two double-ups, but the Argentinian soon saw himself with the chip lead in the match.
Shortly though, Komaromi took the lead right back. With A♦K♠, he doubled against A♠10♥ after all of the money went in preflop. Komaromi hit a king on the flop and held from there to retake a big chip lead. The tournament ended shortly thereafter at the 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 ante level.
Komaromi opened to 150,000 on the button and Piedrabuena defended his big blind with a call. The flop fell K♦7♣4♠ on the middle of the felt. Both checked to the J♣ turn. A check from Piedrabuena resulted in a bet of 225,000 from Komaromi. An all-in raise for about 1.3 million was Piedrabuena's last move of the tournament because Komaromi snap-called with J♥4♥. Piedrabuena had outs with K♣10♣, but the 2♦ on the river was as harmless as could be for Komaromi, crowning the LAPT's first Uruguayan champion.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Komaromi | Uruguay | $244,720 |
| 2 | Claudio Piedrabuena | Argentina | $141,220 |
| 3 | Engelberth Varela (PokerStars Qualifier) | Venezuela | $88,970 |
| 4 | Carlos Watanabe (PokerStars Player) | Peru | $65,430 |
| 5 | Felipe Pasini (PokerStars Qualifier) | Brazil | $46,600 |
| 6 | Nelson Trad Neto | Brazil | $37,190 |
| 7 | Fernando Araujo (PokerStars Qualifier) | Brazil | $27,770 |
| 8 | Rafael Monteiro (PokerStars Player) | Brazil | $18,360 |
Although PokerNews' coverage of the LAPT Punta del Este Main Event has concluded, you can be sure to check back to our Live Reporting pages because we'll be at plenty of tournament stops across the globe just about every week.
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