Julio Belluscio Leads The Final Table of the PokerStars Festival Uruguay Main Event
The final table of the PokerStars Festival Main Event has been reached and after 24 levels it's Julio Belluscio who leads the way by a wide margin. Belluscio bagged up almost twice what his nearest competitor has. During level 23, Belluscio had a down level, losing almost 700,000 chips, but he recovered in a big way after hitting some flops and pulling off some well time bets. In one of the last hands of the day he bullied out Ernesto Panno from a massive pot to extend his lead over the field.
Belluscio is definitely the most accomplished player left in the field with almost $300,000 in live tournament earnings, with results from both the EPT, and the WSOP. Belluscio's largest cash to date is a win in an EPT side event for $56,743 so a win here in Uruguay would be his largest cash ever. He'll look to carry his chip lead to a victory here on Friday.
The day began with 24 players and several players dropped off fairly quickly, including Jose Moure, Mathias Duarte, and Brazilian poker phenom Hugo Marcelo. Marcelo came into the day fairly short and on his last hand he shoved all in with a pair, straight, and flush draws, but he found himself up against Renan Toniolo's flopped straight. Marcelo couldn't catch up and he hit the rail in 22nd place.
Also failing to make it through the day were Carlos Curi, Roberto Piazza, Carlos Segarra, Nicolas Malandre and PokerStars Cup Urugauy Winner Gustavo Prato. Prato found himself on a short stack and moved all in with king-jack against Osvaldo Naves' king-queen. He couldn't catch up and was sent home in 18th place.
It didn't take long to reach the unofficial final table, but once it was reached it took nearly four levels for players to cut the field down from nine to eight, with players doubling up and trading pots left and right. Eventually, Juan Guillenea was the one to fall. He shoved all in with 
and was called by Ernesto Panno's 
. Guillenea turned a pair of kings, but Panno rivered a flush to eliminate Guillenea from the tournament.
The final eight players will return Friday at 12 p.m. local time where the plan is to play down to a winner. Players will continue at level 24 with blinds of 15,000/30,000 and an ante of 5,000. PokerNews will be here to cover the entirety of the event and we'll be right back with them, so make sure to stay tuned for updates from throughout the day.