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A few days ago, hundreds of players bought and re-bought into LAPT6 Panama. After the dust settled and the registration room shut its doors, there were 570 entries.

Now only eight remain.

Leading the final eight is Carter Gill with 2.56 million.

Gill, an American pro living in Colombia, has been frequenting the LAPT for some time. Gill has three LAPT cashes with his first coming in LAPT San Jose back in 2008.

Galal Dahrouj is second in chips and far newer to the LAPT. Brand new in fact. This is the Panamanian businessman’s first LAPT, but he’s been playing poker since he was 14. He’s been playing for so long that the 26-year-old says he doesn’t even remember how he started.

Both Gill and Dahrouj have one fellow countryman at the table.

Representing the home team along with Dahrouj is Raul Pino, with 400,000. While Pino is coming in as the short stack, he knows how to make it deep in the LAPT. Back in Season 4, Pino finished runner-up in LAPT Peru for $120,000.

Then, for Team America, there’s Joseph Stefan with 1,662,000. This 32-year-old Californian started playing poker when he was a wee 8-year-old Californian who was recovering from a broken arm.

Honduras is the only country with a single entrant, Jesus Kafati with 770,000. Kafati’s a businessman who not only learned business at the University of Boston, but learned how to play poker there back in 2001.

Then there’s Brazil.

Much to the delight of the numerous Brazilians in the crowd, they have three players to cheer for. Joel Oliveira, with 1,750,000, has the most chips and wants to dedicate anything he accomplishes here to his wife and family.

Paulo Carrillo has 1,550,000 and takes the title of most birthdays at the final table. This 53-year-old lawyer and businessman has been playing poker since 2001 and this is already his best finish in a major tournament.

Brazil’s third final table participant was our Day 1a chip leader, Marco Oliveira. Oliveira has been playing poker for six years and has been frequenting LAPTs recently, including São Paolo, Chile and Peru.

The final eight players are guaranteed $18,080 and are just seven eliminations away from the grand prize of $168,820.

LAPT6Panama_Final Table.jpg

From left to right: (Top) Galal Dahrouj, Joel Oliveira, Carter Gill, Marco Oliveira

(Bottom) Joseph Stefan, Paulo Carrillo, Raul Pino, Jesus Kafati

Seat 1: Galal Dahrouj (Panama) — 1,965,000
Seat 2: Joel Fernandes de Oliveira (Brazil) — 1,750,000
Seat 3: Joseph Stefan (USA) — 1,662,000
Seat 4: Paulo Carrillo (Brazil) — 1,550,000
Seat 5: Raul Pino (Panama) — 400,000
Seat 6: Jesus Kafati (Honduras) — 770,000
Seat 7: Marco Oliveira (Brazil) — 440,000
Seat 8: Carter Gill (USA) — 2,560,000

If you don’t mind the sweet, smooth sounds of the portuguese language, check out the LAPT live stream of the final table*.

*Note: Live stream may be incredibly pro Brazil.

Para la transmisión en vivo de LAPT6 Panama, haz click aquí.

Alexander Villegas is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.

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