The new season of Latin America's richest poker tour kicks off in January as part of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), which features 104 events and is the biggest PokerStars live poker festival ever held. The tour then visits Chile, Panama and Uruguay, before finishing in Brazil. SEASON 9 CHANGES LAPT Season 9 will introduce some key changes in an effort to improve the player experience and attract a greater number of competitors to the tour. Panama has never been on the famed EPT/NAPT schedule but PokerStars still has ample experience there as it was a stop on the now-defunct Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT). Poker room primed and ready. Panama was carefully chosen as a Championship location, though, as PokerStars Live President Edgar Stuchly told PokerListings in a recent interview.
The Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) recently announced that it will partner with the Brazil Series of Poker (BSOP) to host the Season 8 finale of the LAPT in São Paulo, Brazil. The tournament is scheduled to take place between the 25th of Nov to the 3rd of December 2015 and will take place alongside the BSOP Millions festival.
The BSOP Millions is the largest and most popular poker tournament in Latin America and draws the best poker professionals in Latin America. The 2014 BSOP Millions had over 15,000 registrations and 2,749 registrations for the main event.
This year’s BSOP Millions is expected to have an even bigger turnout considering the fact that the Season 8 finale of the LAPT will also take place.
The LAPT started in 2008 and since then has paid out more than $48 million in prize money till date. The LAPT which is sponsored by PokerStars.net has already completed stops in Panama, Chile and Peru. Before the tour arrives in Brazil, there will be one more stop in Uruguay during the 18 – 22 of September.
By combining both tours, this new poker extravaganza will have a total of thirty two events and a number of different games and buy-in ranges so that everyone can participate. The highlight of the poker extravaganza will be the R$3,000 BSOP Millions and the R$10,000 LAPT Grand Final Main Event. Some of the other events that are scheduled to take place include the pot-limit Omaha Courchevel, no-limit hold’em six-max, a daily no-limit hold’em Survivor Event; the special Ladies Event and the Seniors Event.
In a statement, Igor Federal, Chief Executive Officer of the BSOP said
The BSOP Millions and the LAPT Grand Final are the two most important live poker events in Latin America. The region has seen a massive increase in player numbers in recent years, with the BSOP reporting a 218% increase in tournament entries since last year. Bringing together the two tours means that we can combine our efforts to create one amazing festival, and we are expecting record numbers of players.
Brazilian football captain and PokerStars ambassador Neymar Junior who has a massive fan following has been promoting poker for the past few months and has created a lot of interest in the game back in Latin America. Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari who is one of the top poker players in Brazil expects this year’s LAPT grand finale and the 2015 BSOP millions to set new records in Latin America.
The $1,500 Main Event of Latin American Poker Tour Panama wrapped up May 16 at Sortis Hotel, Spa & Casino, and Colombia's Andres Carrillo topped a field of 553 for his biggest career cash of $138,225 and his country's second LAPT title.
Aaron Mermelstein, who has been crushing to the tune of nearly $1.5 million and two World Poker Tour titles since the beginning of 2015, finished third.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Home Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andres Carrillo | Colombia | $138,225 |
| 2 | Ruben Suarez | Venezuela | $86,880 |
| 3 | Aaron Mermelstein | USA | $62,200 |
| 4 | Austin Peck | USA | $48,500 |
| 5 | Raul Paez | Spain | $30,040 |
| 6 | Paul Cukier | Costa Rica | $29,880 |
| 7 | Andres Blanco | Colombia | $22,300 |
| 8 | Alcides Gomez | USA | $15,440 |
Bryan Schultz (49th), Matthew Wantman (37th), Hunter Cichy (35th), and David Tuthill (28th) were some of the notable players making runs into the 79 paid places.
According to the live updates, the final table kicked off with Carrillo nursing a stack of just over 20 big blinds, sitting in seventh place out of eight.
Carrillo waited it out at first and picked some spots to shove, as Spaniard Raul Paez, who came in with the chip lead and the most tournament cashes at about $1.9 million, kept command early on. Mermelstein, meanwhile, came in with the second-place stack but fell to the short stack by the first break.
Carrillo made a big hand at Level 27 (25,000/50,000/5,000), calling a raise from Paez and then a continuation-bet on a flop. Paez paid off bets of 160,000 on the turn and 300,000 on the river, and Carrillo showed a flush, . That pushed Carrillo past 2 million and he had moved into the lead with 2.68 million by the time the next level began, with Mermelstein doubling up in a race in the mean time.
Anderson Blanco then busted seventh, catching a bad break when Carrillo called his three-bet and the two got it in on a flop with Blanco holding aces and Carrillo eights. The turn gave Carrillo a winning straight.
Mermelstein stayed alive courtesy of a two-outer with fours against kings, and it took awhile before the next two players went bust, Paul Cukier in sixth and Paez in fifth. Then, Mermelstein won a big race against fellow American Austin Peck to send him packing in fourth.
Carrillo was the shortest stack with 32 big blinds, neither Mermelstein nor chip leader Ruben Suarez was far ahead of him. After the dinner break, Suarez made a major misstep when he tried limping the small blind and shoving over a large raise from Carrillo, who snapped him off with and held against .
Latin American Poker Tour Panama 2016
The players battled a few more levels before a short-stacked Mermelstein saw his run end after jamming 11 big blinds with and getting looked up by Carrillo, who showed and won unimproved.
Latin American Tour Golf
Suarez and Carrillo were about even heads up, and Carrillo ended things when Suarez opened to 500,000 at Level 34 (120,000/240,000/30,000) and Carrillo called. He checked and Suarez shoved all in, with Carrillo calling holding for a flush draw. He trailed Suarez's , but turned some more outs when the hit. The river completed his flush and sent the LAPT title his way.
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