4:20pm: Break time Our 257 remaining players are on a fifteen-minute break.
4:10pm: Feed the shark Humberto Brenes had been relatively quiet during the opening three levels as his stack slipped to under 15,000. However, Brenes decided that it was time to feed his shark. One player opened up for a raise of 700 and another player called. Brenes went over the top of both players for a total of 3,700. The two called and both caustiously checked the flop of 10♣ 9♥ 3♦ . Brenes tossed out a bet of 7,000 and his opponents quickly jumped out of the water. Brenes improved his stack to almost 24K.
4:00pm: Breaking it down The staff is breaking tables from highest to lowest, which means that the upstairs tables are the first to go. Neil Channing’s table recently broke and he took a seat at Roberto Brenes’ table. Approximately 260 or so players are remaining overall, with around eleven tables still upstairs.
3:45pm: No mas Fabian, no mas Alex Argentina’s Fabian Ortiz, he of the legendary comeback from half a small blind to an LAPT title, has left the building. He suffered elimination at the hands of Jimmy Castano. Ortiz’s was the second scalp of the day for Castano, who took out Gualter Salles early in Level 1. He’s now the far and away chip leader with 93,000.
Also left to enjoy the Uruguayan sunshine is Brazilian Team Pro Alexandre Gomes, who was eliminated a short time ago. Down to around 7,000 in chips, he got the rest of his stack in with A-Q against pocket nines on an A-J-9 flop. No miracles on the turn or river for Gomes and he hit the rail.
3:40pm: Akkari stopped in his tracks Usually comfortable in the role of table captain, Andre Akkari just hit a bit of a roadblock. An early position player made it 700 to go, Akkari bumped it up to 1,800 from the hijack seat and his opponent smooth-called. Both players checked the 8â™ 7♦ 6♥ flop. The turn came the K♥ and the action was checked to Akkari, who bet 2,100. The early position player came in with a check-raise to 5,200 and after about two minutes in the tank, Akkari gave up his hand. He’s still comfortably stacked, however, at 28,500.
3:30pm: Rough corner Fabian Ortiz was moved into a vacant seat that previously belonged to Gualter Salles. The LAPT Vina del Mar champion is now sitting in between Veronica Dabul and Colombia’s Jimmy Castano. Ortiz has a tough road ahead of him with Castano sitting on one of the biggest stacks in the room with over 55K.
3:25pm: Blinds up We’re now at Level 4. Blinds are 150/300.
3:15pm: 307 Runners We’ve gotten an unofficial word on official numbers at the LAPT Punta del Este! A total of 307 players are in today’s event. Stay tuned for official payout information.
3:08pm: Barefoot luxury We may be indoors enjoying the air conditioning and listening to the clatter of chips, but our video blog team has been out and about taking in the sights around Punta del Este. Check out their Day 1 Intro and see what you’re missing.
Watch LAPT Punta del Este 2010: Welcome on PokerStars.tv
2:45pm: The Godfather Jaime Ateneloff is known around town for being the Godfather of poker in Uruguay. Ateneloff cut his teeth playing cash games with Humberto Brenes and Jose Rosenkrantz in Costa Rica over two decades ago. He eventually introduced Texas hold’em to Uruguay and the rest is history. Ateneloff is a regular on the LAPT. Last year, Ateneloff made a final table at the LAPT Chile and went deep at the LAPT Mar del Plata. At the present moment, Jaime Ateneloff is stilling on a 26,000 stack.
2:28pm: Early movers & shakers After only two levels of play, Christian De Leon, Stevie “stevie444” Chidwick, and Damian Salas are already nearing the 30,000-chip mark.
2:27pm: Players return from break Cards are back in the air and the blinds are up to 100-200.
