Shirley Rosario (aka the Poker Babe) is off to a sizzling start. She busted a player, eventually taking his entire stack over the course of three hands. She has doubled up and her stack is around 20,000.
Rock and roll photographers can be a surly breed. However, former music photographer turned poker pro, David Plastik has a little something to be happy about. As the dealer pushed Plastik a pot early on during Level 1, he cracked a rare smile. Although it was a small-sized pot, Plastik was still pleased. Players always want to get off to a good start and win the first pot they play during Day 1 of a poker tournament. Nothing is worse than going into the hole during the early levels.
The former photographer for legendary music magazines such as Rolling Stone and Cream is off to a positive start.
There are a handful of Americans here such as Greg Raymer, Victor Ramdin, David Plastik, Shirley Rosario, and Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet. Also in today's field are Andre Akkari, Alex Gomes, Humberto Brenes, and Maria 'Maridu' Maynrick.
We're approximately 30 minutes away from the start of the 2008 PokerStars.com LAPT Mexico. The buy in for the main event is $2,500 + $200. Starting stacks are 10,000 and levels will be one hour in length. We will play ten levels tonight.
The ESPN crew is currently setting up the featured TV table, while the poker dealers are counting out the player's chips. Stay tuned...
Hola, poker players! Yes, the poker bug has officially landed south of the border and PokerNews will be providing live updates for the PokerStars.com Latin America Poker Tour.
I'm currently holed up at the swanky Marival Resorts and Suites in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico for the latest stop on the PokerStars.com LAPT. Although this is the second season of the LAPT, this is the first ever major tournament series to be held in Mexico.
Action will begin Friday at noon local time (or 1 PM ET) for the $2,500 + $200 Main Event Championship. I already spotted a couple of big names milling around the resort such as Greg "fossilman" Raymer and Humberto Brenes. Also scheduled to play are Victor Ramdin, Andre Akkari, David Plastik, Shirley Rosario, and LAPT Costa Rica champion Ryan Fee.