Leandro Csome Emerges as Day 1b Chip Leader; Team PokerStars Pro (Brazil) Andre Akkari Survives
The first-ever Latin American Poker Tour event in Colombia continued today at the Allegre Casino in Medellin. Day 1b saw another packed house and, with a few alternates, attracted 351 players, surpassing Day 1a��s capped-field of 330. Combined, the two starting days created a starting field of 681 players, which makes the LAPT-Colombia the largest LAPT Main event in history (surpassing the 621 entries of Chile's Vina del Mar event back in March).
After ten levels of play, between 99-108 players survived Day 1b, including Team PokerStars Pro (Brazil) Andre Akkari, Engelberth Varela, Jorge Alvarado, Tulio Bertoli, Cesar Mejia Medina, and Pablo Gonzalez. However, they're all chasing Leandro Csome, who appears to be the Day 1b chip leader with 149,000. All of those players will return on Saturday for Day 2 and join the 101 survivors from Day 1a, which included Humberto Brenes, Daniel Ospina, and Fredy Torres, with the latter appearing to be the Day 1a chip leader.
All of these players will be competing for the C$288,329,000 first-place prize, which amounts to $151,027.03 USD. Some players who won't be making a run at the grand prize are Day 1b casualties: Team PokerStars Pro (Argentina) Leo Fernandez, Oded Minond, Jesus Bertoli, James Honeybone, Carlos Zapato, Julio Belluscio, Joao Henrique Lima, and Gaston Catzman.
One of the more interesting storylines headed into Day 2 is the race between Pablo Gonzalez and Daniel Ospina, who sit atop the LAPT Player of the Year Leaderboard with 1,125 points and 990 points respectively. These men played on separate starting days, but they��ll both be in the same room on Day 2 looking to distance themselves from the rest of the pack.
Day 2 action is set to kick off at noon local time tomorrow, and we expect it to be a long day as the remaining field is set to play down to a final table, or at least come as close as possible. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting then for all the latest hands, action, and eliminations from the LAPT-Colombia.