Mistakes get made in this business. Hands get mis-reported, players get mis-busted. Call it the fog of war, if you want, but these things do happen.
Earlier today I scoured the room for Team PokerStars Pro Jose Barbero and couldn’t find him. I naturally assumed that he had busted, neither he nor his stack were located at his Last Known Address. I dutifully reported his elimination, only to see him staring directly at me less than an hour. I dutifully un-busted him in the reports for the day.
Naturally, Barbero ended Day 1a as the chip leader. He’ll return on Sunday with 263,800 chips, which at that point will be worth roughly 165 big blinds. Naturally. It’s as if he wanted to prove just how un-busted he is.
Barbero is about five weeks removed with his last brush with LAPT greatness, a 3rd-place finish at LAPT6 Chile. He was tantalizingly close to capturing his 3rd LAPT title there, a near-miss that may provide a little extra motivation and incentive if he can carry his big stack all the way through Day 2. If he does, we may have to start manning the watchtowers again the way we did in Chile.
Nacho’s stack started, like every other stack, at 20,000. We arrived earlier this afternoon to all the promise of an LAPT stop in a familiar place. The majesty of São Paulo welcomed LAPT players in 2011 and 2012. 2013 hasn’t started off any differently.
There are a few different things around here though. The LAPT chose a new venue for the São Paulo event this year. The tour also continued its rollout of a new Main Event format, prompting some shifts in the habits of its players.
The biggest change came from PokerStars itself, as it formally introduced the newest member of Team Sportstar, the legendary Brazilian footballer Ronaldo. Yes, that Ronaldo. He attracted quite a bit of attention at a pre-tournament press conference and at the feature table but ultimately did not make it past Level 4 of the tournament.
Players that got to sit at Ronaldo’s table for those four levels surely considered themselves fortunate. There were several other far less fortunate table draws around the room, including the husband-and-wife pairing of Sergio and Alessandra Braga. Their table did eventually break, with both halves of the couple intact.
Despite Ronaldo’s early exit, Team PokerStars had a pretty good day. The Red Spade Brigade cruised into the dinner break, then continued mashing and slaying after players returned from their meal. Of the seven men sporting the Red Spade, only Ronaldo and Andre Akkari were retired to the rail. Akkari will likely try again tomorrow; the other five men get tomorrow off. In addition to Barbero, Team Pros Leo Fernandez (105,100), Cristian de Leon (80,500), and Angel Guillen (56,400) all made Day 2, as did Team Online player Jorge Limon (88,800)
It wasn’t all fun and games after dinner, either. The players had to contend with all the blood rushing to their stomachs even as a chill hit the room that left many of them pitying the “unfortunates” who were “stranded” at the feature table. That’s where Barbero ended his day as the chip leader.
Following Barbero in 2nd place is Francesco Conte, who bagged up 246,800. There’s a rogue’s gallery of players chasing from there. They’ll all have a day off tomorrow to rest, recuperate and plot their strategy for Sunday’s Day 2.
There’s no rest for the bloggers, however. We’ll be back here tomorrow, bright-eyed if not bushy-tailed, ready to rewind the clock and do it all over again for Day 1b.
Until then, you can find us at the bar.
Dave Behr is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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