Updates from levels 17 and 18 of LAPT Playa Conchal, brought to you by Brad Willis and Change100.
Selected approximate chip counts, updated throughout the day, are available on the chip counts page. The LAPT tournament structure can be found on the LAPT tournament structure page. The full payout structure is on the prize pool and winners page.
Previous coverage: Day 1 wrap | Levels 9 and 10 | Levels 11 and 12 | Levels 13 and 14 | Day 2 wrap | Level 15 and 16 | Levels 17 and 18
Blinds: 6,000/12,000/1,000
6:19pm: Security?
Before long, Canadian qualifier Eric Levesque may need security around him. Not only does he have a lot of chips, but he’s drawn the ire of his tablemates.
The most recent hand saw three players to a 2♠4♣ 8♥ flop. Levesque checked and saw a bet to 37 and call behind him. With that, he raised to 105,000. The original bettor folded, but Carlos Giron called. On the 5♥ turn, Levesque check-called a 100,000 bet.
The river was a fairly scary 9♥ . Levesque didn’t think long for before putting more than half his stack, 200,000, in the middle. Giron thought for two minutes before mucking.
With that, Levesque stood, tossed his cards face-up at Giron, and exclaimed, “How’s that?!”
He held 8â™ 6♦ for second pair, no kicker, no straight, no flush, no anything that Giron wouldn’t have called if he’d known.
But he didn’t know, and now Levesque has as big a stack as he has cojones and attitude.
6:08pm: Well, Pardo me!
Fresh off his double-up, Francis-Nicolas Bouchard made it 28,000 to go from middle position. Eric Levesque flat-called, and Carlos Giron put in a three-bet to 88,000 from the small blind. Pardo, sitting in the big blind, came in and four-bet to 275,000, leaving himself only 205,000 behind.
Bouchard thought hard before folding. Levesque made a speech, then folded, as did Giron. Pardo raked in the pot and showed one card, the K♣ . He’s now up to 632,000.
5:55pm: Francis-Nicolas Bouchard doubles through Rogelio Pardo
Francis-Nicolas Bouchard has been shoving all-in virtually every time the action has been folded to him in the hopes of doubling up and on this last hand, he finally got a customer in Rogelio Pardo. Bouchard’s A♣ K♣ outran Pardo’s J♣ J♦ , the board running out 5â™ 5♣ 7♣ A♦ 3♣ to double him up to 375,000. Pardo’s stack fell to 483,000.
5:50pm: Merrifield triples
It’s a three-way all-in that came out of nowhere. The hands:
Steve Merrifield: A♥ 8â™
Darren Keyes: 3♣ 3♦
Patrick de Koster: A♦ Q♥
The board ran out 7â™ J♥ 7♥ 8♥ K♣ . Merrfield 114,000 chips tripled in value, Keyes won the side pot and de Koster’s big stack now has a dent in it.
5:35pm: Sol burns Iceland
Nearly down to the felt at the first break today, Sol Bergren is back in safe territory after doubling through Daniel Mar Palsson, his A♠A♥ holding up against 10♠10♥ . Bergren is up to 425,000 while Palsson was left with 187,000.
5:31pm: Our TD
While we’re waiting for the action to pick back up, here’s our favorite TD in the world, Mike Ward talking about the LAPT structure.
Watch LAPT S3 COSTA RICA: Mike Ward on Tournament Structure on PokerStars.tv
5:15pm: Chip count
We just put up a fresh chip count from the break. You can find it right here.
5:00pm: Break
Players are on a 15-minute break before moving on to Level 20.
Blinds: 5,000/10,000/1,000
4:59pm: Palsson takes a hit
We caught up with this hand on the turn, the board reading J♦ 10â™ 5â™ 9♥ . Patrick De Koster checked, Daniel Mar Palsson bet 37,000 and De Koster came in with a check-raise to 105,000. Palsson called and they saw the 10♣ hit the river. This time, De Koster led out, making it 145,000 to go. Palsson made the call and insta-mucked once he saw De Koster’s turned straight with Kâ™ Q♣ .
Palsson is down to 403,000 while De Koster is nearing the chip lead with 894,000.
4:40pm: Pandilica Alin doubles through Francis-Nicolas Bouchard
Pandilica Alin opened for 25,000 from under-the-gun, Francis-Nicolas Bouchard moved all in for 172,000 and Alin insta-called. It was pocket aces for Alin vs. Bouchard’s pocket nines, the board running out 7♣ 5♥ 2♦ 5♣ 10♥ to double Alin’s stack to 350,000. Bouchard was left with only 73,000.
4:25pm: Sol plays it really slow
When Steve Merrifield came in for a raise to 22,000, he got three customers, including Sol Bergren.The flop fell 3♦ Kâ™ Q♥ . All four players checked. On the K♣ turn, everybody checked to Merrifield, so he bet 35,000. This time, only Bergren called. The river was the 4♣ . This time Bergren checked again and Merrifield put out 125,000, enough to put Bergren all-in. He didn’t waste time putting his chips in the middle with his K♥ Q♦ . Merrifield could only laugh and muck his hand.
4:15pm: Rogelio Pardo doubles through Pandilica Alin
Pandilica Alin led off the action with a raise to 25,000. Carlos Giron flat-called and Rogelio Pardo came in with a squeeze raise to 60,000. With the action back on Alin, he four-bet to 110,000. Giron gave up his hand and Pardo came in with a fifth raise to a total of 210,000. Alin called and they went to the flop, which came down K♥ 8♠3♥ . Alin moved all-in and Pardo snap-called, turning up A♦ A♣ , leaving Alin in dire shape with J♦ J♥ . The turn was the 9♠, the river was the 6♠and Pardo scored himself a monster pot, taking his stack up to 750,000, good for the chip lead. Alin was left with 177,000.
4:06pm: Clayton McGuire eliminated
Short-stacked and ready to double, Clayton McGuire just got it all-in with ace-jack. Unfortunately for him, he ran into Steve Merrifield’s pocket kings. McGuire never caught up and is gone in 12th place.
3:53pm: Time for a new level
Players are getting rid of the unnecessary 500 chips now. The blinds move up to 5,000/10,000/1,000.
While we wait for the players to sit back down, here’s a photo of the sharks on sale for Humberto Brenes’ Save the Sharks charity effort.
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