Home / Poker News February 2011 / LAPT Sao Paolo – Day 4: Manzano wins
LAPT Sao Paolo – Day 4: Manzano wins
Posted by: Mark Baldwing - Tue, 2011-02-22 05:28
The final day of the LAPT’s Sao Paolo Main Event was one filled with partisan support on the part of the rail-birding crowd for the Brazilians still in the contest. Unfortunately for them, the first ever Brazilian LAPT title would not end up in possession of a local player; Chile’s Alex Manzano nixed the hopes of the home crowd, as he rose to victory after 4 days of skilled (and lucky) green felt antics.
The final day of the
poker tournament started under rather dark auspices for the eventual winner: he kicked off the action seated between the chip leader (Leandro Csome of Argetina) and the player 3rd in chips (local player Joao Neto). His precarious position prompted him to be careful early on and to let his opponents do the bulk of the work.
He did jump into the fray when he deemed the time was right though, and sure enough, he sent Bruno Politano, one of the short-stacks, to the rail when his A,K prevailed over Politano’s pocket 10s. Manzano then proceeded to eliminate Henrique Bernardes on a big slick vs Q,J match-up. During that time, Neto locked horns with fellow big stack Csome, and managed to double his already impressive stack.
Holding the table hostage with his monster stack, Neto began bullying opponents left and right. Csome was the one who fell victim to his tactics again: he folded a hand over a large pot, with Neto holding nothing but air.
Santiago Nadal – forced to act by the increasing blinds – was the next victim of the final table, sent to the rail by Csome. Csome himself found the rail next, his K,5 proving to be no match for Neto’s pocket 9s.
Manzano only really got going during 3 handed play. He scored three huge pots in quick succession to stay very much alive. Even though Neto was the one to eliminate Fonseca to set up 2-handed play, by that stage, Manzano had built up a huge chip lead, which meant that heads-up play was nothing more than a mere formality for him.
