Over the previous few days, we've mentioned a couple of different themes throughout our coverage of the LAPT9 Chile Main Event. Through both Day 1 flights, we mentioned two-time LAPT champions, considered one of which was defending his title here in Vina del Mar, and a handful of players that were either coming off big scores or were trying to record their first real breakout score on this event.
LAPT9 Chile Champion - Rodrigo Strong
Heading into Day 2, that spotlight shifted toward the revenants, the players coming back for 'moving day' after being left for dead with a brief opening flight stack. While a handful of players at this final table rose from the ashes during Day 2 or even Day 3, Rodrigo Strong was the only seeking to bury them. The Brazilian was the primary player to damage the 1,000,000 chip mark yesterday and from that time until the overall table, he scored knockout after knockout, winning nearly every all-in encounter he found himself eager about en path to ending the night with the eight-handed chip lead.
He turned that chip lead right into a victory today, starting strong and finishing even stronger nevertheless it wasn't a wire to wire finish, or easy in any way. During the first few levels at this final table, Strong kept his big stack growing, minus the bounties just like the previous day. That was Richard Dubini's job, because the Argentine sent Aqviles Espinoza to the rail in 7th place, after Day 2 chip leader Ricardo Malamala sent Carlos Pohmajevic to the rail in 8th with pocket aces. When play was five-handed, Strong was dealt his first little bit of adversity in over 36 hours. Right after Matamala and his short stack bowed out in 6th place, Strong doubled up Fabian Chauriye and was, like we have seen such a lot of times, left for dead.
Keeping to LAPT9 Chile script, Strong returned from the dead, which thus was just over a two big blind stack, never losing his focus and grinding his long ago up the leaderboard. As he ascended, Roberly Felicio and Richard Dubini fell, each getting sent to the rail by Fabian Chauriye. The Chilean then sent Alex Vega out in 3rd and after a deal was agreed upon heads up, Strong started working again.
Richard Dubini's dream lead to 4th place
He won a flip to regain the chip lead and after that, he never looked back. He won a couple of more pots to increase his lead and then, finally came back to dispatch the player that had attempted to kill him, turning a flush to eliminate Chauriye in second place, a year after he finished 6th within the LAPT8 Chile Main Event.
The Chilean runner-up was seeking to redeem himself from last year and as this final table progressed, likely had visions of himself within the winner's circle. While Chauriye could have been thinking that for the previous few hours, Rodrigo Strong have been considering this moment for his entire life.
Until recently, the Brazilian was an internet player but after due to the fact that he was not progressing in poker how he'd like, he made the verdict to modify his entire life. He moved to Barcelona, Spain, he stopped drinking, he stopped partying and he changed everything about his poker game besides. He spent a whole year engaged on the mental side of his game, knowing that that was the missing piece to his poker puzzle.
Fabian Chauriye finished 2nd this year
"I worked at the technical side of my game for ten years but I knew something was still missing." Strong said, adding that he battled with an ego and absence of self esteem before his move to Spain. That move looks to be working out, as Strong won the Spanish Poker Millions Main Event in December for just over $50,000 and because then, he's taken to the live tournament circuit.
"Everyone starts watching final tables on YouTube, seeing poker on television, trophies, cameras." he said, while admitting that the competitive atmosphere around live poker is something he's always loved. He never got that in those years of online grinding and while he still plays nearly on a daily basis on PokerStars.es when he's home, he's certainly being used to the winner's circle and hitting the entire stops en path to his bigger goals.
Those bigger goals include continuing to travel the world, to a couple of poker's biggest events and now, fresh off an over $120,000 score, he's got his eyes set at the European Poker Tour. Strong lives off competition but he has to admit, that it's not relevant who's at his table, his only opponent is himself.
He beat himself and likewise a few of South America's best this week, en path to his first LAPT title and best career tournament score. That concludes the PokerStars blog's coverage of the LAPT9 Chile Main Event and an entire results list are available during the links at the right hand side of this page. A recap of the general table are available here as well.
LAPT9 Chile Main EventDates: March 4-8, 2016Buy-in: $1,500Players: 565Prize pool: $737,325
| 1 | Rodrigo Strong | Brazil | $ 120,565* | |
| 2 | Fabian Chauriye | Chile | $ 110,000* | |
| 3 | Alex Vega | Chile | $ 63,560 | |
| 4 | Richard Dubini | Argentina | PokerStars Player | $ 49,540 |
| 5 | Roberly Felicio | Brazil | $ 38,860 | |
| 6 | Ricardo Matamala | Chile | $ 30,520 | |
| 7 | Andres Espinoza | Chile | $ 22,780 | |
| 8 | Carlos Pohmajevic | Argentina | $ 15,780 |
* Indicates a heads-up deal was made
Photos courtesy of Carlos Monti.
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Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Latin American Poker Tour]
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