Home / Poker News April 2009 / LAPT Mar del Plata Grand Final – final table report
LAPT Mar del Plata Grand Final – final table report
Posted by: James Carter. - Mon, 2009-04-20 20:21
Dominik Nitsche started the final day of the LAPT Grand Final in the chip lead, and that’s exactly how he finished it: on top.
The young German, who hasn’t even graduated from high school yet, has taken down the $381,030 first prize, after a heads-up battle with 19-year old Jorge Landazuri from Mexico.
Nitsche started the final table with 817,000 chips, almost twice as many as Sergio Farias’ 474,000, in second place. He did trip a few times through the final table action, but his huge starting stack gave him a big enough initial thrust to power him through to victory.
Jose Barbero was not the short-stack (that dubious honor befell Alfons Fenijn who only had 65,000 chips going into the final table action), but he became the first casualty of the third day, playing only two hands at the final table. On the second hand of the day, he shoved all-in on his A,K against Farias’ 5,5.
The flop failed to decide the coin-flip, as it gave Farias a set of 5s, but it also gave Barbero a dangerous-looking gutshot straight draw. The turn and the river missed Barbero though and he was done in 9th. Fenijn got a tad lucky on Barbero’s bust there, but he couldn’t avert the inevitable. He became the next victim when his Q,10o fell prey to Sergio Farias’ pocket Jacks. Derek Lerner headed to the rail in 7th place, his elimination Rodolfo Awad’s handiwork.
Sergio Farias, the person carrying the bulk of the eliminations duties at the final table fell next, together with Pokerstars’ own Leo Fernandez. Dominik Nitsche caught them both on the wrong foot with his pocket rockets as all the money went in before the flop in a three-way hand. Fernandez had K,K and Faria had 10,10 to make things more interesting. The board missed them both though, and the tourney was over for them.
Jason Skeans got caught red-handed while trying to lift some blinds off his opponents and paid the ultimate price for it: elimination in 4th place. Awad got booted by Landazuri next, and the heads-up stage was set for the confrontation of the two youngsters. The preparation for the heads-up took a lot more than the actual action though. A single hand decided the winner, as Nitsche’s set of Ks made short work of Landazuri’s straight draw.
