PokerStars LAPT Punta del Este Won By Jose Barbero
March 1, 2010 7:44 amJose Barbero has won the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) Punta del Esta, Uruguay after defeating a field of 307 players over four days to lift the title and claim the $279,330 first place prize.
As Day 1 of the $3,700 buy-in tournament ended, the field had been cut in half to 145 players and by the end of Day 2 just 24 players remained. Day 3 drew to a close after Ernesto Panno was knocked out in ninth ($14,590) after which the final table was all set for Day 4.
Roman Saurez exited in eighth ($20,850) after Jose Barbero called his A5 shove holding A7, shortly followed by Bernardo Dias in seventh ($31,270) when his A6 all-in was looked up by Andres Korn with pocket 7’s.
Jose Barbero took his next scalp when Marco Caicedo pushed all-in with K-Q against Barbero’s A7, who then hit an A on the flop to send Caicedo out in sixth for a $41,690 pay day.
The only lady at the table, Daniela Zapiello, took a heavy hit to her stack after looking up Korn’s AA push holding KQ. Then short on chips her own push with Qs 5s looked likely to put her right back in the game after hitting top pair on the flop, only to see her tournament slip away when Norbert Ludger with Ad 8d made a gut shot straight on the river to send her packing in fifth for $52,110.
Ludger’s celebration was short lived, though, and he was eliminated soon after in fourth ($72,960) when he pushed all-in holding pocket 5’s on a Qd 4s 2s 4d board, only to see Nicolas Cardyn make the call and flip over Qh 10s.
After Korn was knocked out in third ($99,020), having his K 10 push called by Barbero with K J, the final heads-up showdown was set with Barbero now with 4.3 million chips to Cardyn’s 1.7 million.Cardyn soon managed to even the score but a mistimed all-in bluff after missing the flop left him dead in the water and he was eliminated a hand later when his AK lost to his opponents A 10 and a 10 on the river. Cardyn took home $161,550 for his excellent run in the tournament, whereas Jose Barbero not only took the title and $279,330 in winnings, but also became the first member of Team PokerStars Pros to win an LAPT event.
Jose “Nacho” Ignacio Barbero has now earned $557,320 from live tournament cashes, with his second largest win coming in 2009 at the Caribbean Poker Adventure PokerStars EPT Season 5, where he collected $73,183 for his first place finish.