Jose Barbero Wins LAPT Uruguay for Team PokerStars

After the PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour took a break of several months, Season 3 resumed with the ever-popular stop at the Punta del Este Resort in Uruguay. Players from across Latin America converged upon the beach town to play for one of the most prestigious titles in the region.

And turnout was solid, as a total of 307 players gathered for the $3,700 buy-in tournament, a bigger crowd than the Costa Rica event that kicked off the season in November. Many big names were in the field, though only 145 players made it through the day. Day 2 found the field dwindle to only 24, and in the process the money bubble burst as Pedro Komaromi was all-in on the board with pocket tens, but his full house was trumped by the of Daniela Zapiello for the better hand. Komaromi left the tournament in 49th place on the bubble, and the rest of the players were guaranteed at least $5,210 for their finishes. Day 2 finished with Cesar Mostafa in the chip lead with 529,000.

The third day of action proceeded toward the final table, and some who left the field along the way included Steve Chidwick in 21st place, Oliver Rowe in 18th, and Humberto Brenes in 16th. Finally, with nine players left, it was Ernesto Panno who made his all-in move with , which was up against the of Jose Barbero. The board of knocked Panno out in ninth place with $14,590.

The final table was set for February 27 as follows:

Seat 1:    Roman Suarez           403,000
Seat 2:    Norbert Ludger        1,596,000
Seat 3:    Jose Barbero           548,000
Seat 4:    Bernardo Dias           840,000
Seat 5:    Andres Korn           503,000
Seat 6:    Nicolas Cardyn           988,000
Seat 7:    Daniela Zapiello           560,000
Seat 8:    Marco Caicedo           666,000

There was a great deal of action at the final table, and the first player to leave was Roman Suarez, who pushed his short stack all-in with against the of Barbero. The board came , and Suarez could do nothing but leave with $20,850 in eighth place.

Bernardo Dias doubled up twice to stay alive, but Cardyn doubled back through him. Crippled, Dias put his stack at risk with against the pocket sevens of Korn, and the pocket pair held up on the board. Dias left in seventh place with $31,270.

Marco Caicedo hadn’t found many places to make things happen at the final table and finally pushed his last 350K with . Barbero called with and improved on the board. Caicedo had to leave in sixth place with $41,690.

Daniela Zapiello found some success doubling through Cardyn, but when Korn doubled through her, she felt the need to move all-in with . Ludger was the caller holding , and the board of gave Ludger the straight, and Zepiello was eliminated in fifth place with $52,110.

Norbert Ludger lost ground almost continually at the final table and finally got involved with Cardyn on a flop. A bet and call brought them the on the turn, at which point Ludger moved his last 910K all-in with pocket fives. Cardyn called with , and the top pair was good through the showing of the river card. Ludger was sent to the rail in fourth place with $72,960.

Andres Korn took his last stand with , and Barbero got in there with . Korn couldn’t improve on the board, and Korn departed in third place with $99,020.

Heads-up then began as follows:

Jose Barbero    4,400,000
Nicolas Cardyn    1,700,000

Barbero furthered his lead but Cardyn doubled up to make the counts closer to even. But Barbero took a massive pot from Cardyn with a double-up, leaving Cardyn with only 750K chips. Cardyn pushed that all-in with , and Barbero called with . The board came , and Barbero rivered the pair to take it, leaving Nicolas Cardyn with $161,550 for second place.

Jose “Nacho” Ignacio Barbero won the LAPT Punta del Este and $279,330 as a member of Team PokerStars Pro.