Last year in Punta del Este when we’d arrived for the final day of play, we were greeted by the ever courteous Mantra Casino and LAPT staff members. We were also greeted with a table of Brazilians (four), and a player each from Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, and host country Uruguay.
The home country pinned their hopes on their lone representative, Alex Komaromi, who brought a sizable chip lead to that final table. The four Brazilians, meanwhile, came with shorter stacks, and as it happened were the first four to go. Komaromi maintained his lead, survived further, and eventually succeeded in outlasting the others to claim a first LAPT trophy for Uruguay.
This morning we were once again greeted by calls of buenos dias and smiling faces. Speaking of the latter, here’s Lynn Gilmartin to introduce today’s final day of play:
As far as the remaining players are concerned, this time there are four Argentinians greeting us among the final group. And we’re again noticing a lone Uruguayan among the final group, Joaquin Melongno. But his position isn’t as favorable at this juncture when compared to what Komaromi’s had been, his stack placing him sixth among the nine returners.
That said, yesterday provided enough big pots — and some improbable outcomes to hands — to provide hope for everyone still with chips, including ninth-place Angel Guillen. Despite coming in short today, the Team PokerStars Pro has to be bringing some measure of belief in his chances after surviving that wild three-way hand on Saturday, hitting a runner-runner full house to avoid departing shy of the final 20.
Even our leader, Francisco Baruffi of Brazil, experienced a similar moment of extreme good fortune when he used queens to crack the pocket aces of Uruguay’s Juan Garcia to claim that big stack and the lead. All in before the flop, on the turn a saving queen fell from the skies to preserve Baruffi’s tourney life.
Here’s how they’ll be arranged around that last table, along with the stacks that’ll be sitting before them when the first hand is dealt.
Seat 1: Francisco Baruffi (Brazil) – 1,346,000

Seat 2: Osvaldo Resquin (Argentina) – 802,000

Seat 3: Guido Ruffini (Argentina) – 1,259,000

Seat 4: Vladimir Dobrovolskiy (Russia) – 511,000

Seat 5: Marcelo Fonseca (Brazil) – 460,000

Seat 6: Carlos Mironiuk (Argentina) – 751,000

Seat 7: Joaquin Melogno (Uruguay) – 602,000

Seat 8: Angel Guillen (Mexico) – 421,000

Seat 9: Ivan Luca (Argentina) – 1,254,000
Stick around here at the PokerStars blog today as we chronicle how it all turns out before saying buenos noches to each other and to another fantastic event on the LAPT.
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