Amauri Grutka Wins LAPC Main Event in Uruguay

The partypoker Latin American Poker Championship recently took place at the Enjoy Conrad Resort & Casino in Punta del Este, Uruguay, with 1,137 players entering its $1,100 Main Event to create a prize pool of $1,102,890. The action then continued for four days, with Brazil’s Amauri Giovani Grutka eventually managing to overcome the tough field to claim a top prize of $200,000.
The LAPC Main Event attracted a number of notable pros, and amongst those finishing in a money spot was Leo Fernandez in 19th ($6,250), and partypoker sponsored pro Kristen Bicknell in 10th ($9,000), after which the unofficial final table of nine was set. Grutka subsequently entered the final table in pole position followed close behind by China’s Yi Lin, who was the only non-South American player still left in contention.
Uruguay then lost its last contender in 8th place after Lucas Scafini ran his pocket queens into the pocket kings of Yi Lin, after which the Chinese player’s pocket sevens were good enough to see off Joao Simao (K-10) in 4th. Nevertheless, Simao collected $60,000 for his deep run, bringing his earning for 2018 to $905,753 so far, marking his most successful year to date. In February, he also recorded his biggest ever score after finishing the partypoker MILLIONS Germany Main Event in 4th for €280,000 ($345,274).
Amauri Grutka entered three-handed play as the short stack against Federico Dania and Yi Lin, but soon managed a double up holding Q-Q against the A-J of Dania, after which the depleted Argentinean player had his few remaining chips taken by Lin to usher in heads-up play for the title.
At this stage, both players were sitting on roughly 60bb stacks, but if the gathered crowd were expecting a long drawn out affair they couldn’t have been more surprised. On the first hand of play, Grutka (Qh-Qc) and Lin (As-Ks) went all-in preflop, with the Qs-10s-2d flop giving Grutka a set, but offering a multitude of possibilities for Lin. A 4h on turn and 3c on river changed nothing, though, and so Lin had to be content with a runner-up finish, while Grutka was crowned this year’s LAPC Punta del Este champion.
Final Table Results:
1: Amauri Grutka (Brazil) $200,000
2: Yi Lin (China) $130,000
3: Federico Dania (Argentina) $88,290
4: Joao Simao (Brazil) $60,000
5: Marcelo Azevedo (Brazil) $40,000
6: Bruno Kawauti (Brazil) $30,000
7: Lucas Scafini (Brazil) $20,000
8: Francisco Garcia (Uruguay) $14,000