Travel Report: LAPT8 Brazil, Day 3 -- Winding Down

The original schedule for the Latin American Poker Tour Grand Final in São Paulo, Brazil actually had Day 4 marked “if needed,” although it was pretty clear from early on in the tournament that they would need it.

Even so, when things got to moving relatively quickly on Saturday’s Day 3 -- the day when typically they’d play from 32 players down to the eight-handed final table -- there was some talk perhaps of continuing down to less than eight players so as to make Sunday a little shorter. That talk went away, though, once the pace slowed down again and everything wound up about midnight, making for the first less-than-10-hour workday we’ve had this week.

There were three former LAPT Main Event champs left among the 32 -- Alex Manzano, Patricio Rojas, and Caio Hey (who won LAPT Brazil last year) -- but none made it to today’s final table. Six Brazilians and two Chileans did, with Afonso Henrique leading.

Of the group, the best known left are the short stack Bruno Kawauti who finished 15th in the 2013 WSOP Main Event, Ricardo Chauriye who made the LAPT Peru final table this year, Andrés “gmcrafter” Herrera whose won a lot online, and Yuri “theNERDguy” Martins who has won a lot more online. Martins has like $5 million in online earnings, including finishing second to Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz in the 2014 WCOOP Main Event.

The day was pretty much all business with a lot of back-and-forthing from the laptop to the tournament area to keep up with the action. I had a picture of the Golden Hall in yesterday’s post, the enormous tournament room with 151 tables, all pretty much filled by the other BSOP Millions events including the Main Event of that festival. Makes for a crazy atmosphere, even as the LAPT Grand Final has gotten down to the last few tables and become a more intimate-seeming affair.

Meanwhile my plans for exploring São Paulo some before I go have been sidetracked somewhat by weather and other factors. We’re kind of locked inside the business district here in the southern part of the sprawling city, with nothing much for pedestrians to see beyond the surrounding buildings -- mostly offices -- and traffic. And without much extra time it’s hard to get out to do other things, so it may be I’ll have to wait until the next visit down for that.

Still, I’m eating especially well and very much enjoying meeting new people and hanging/working with the LAPT guys. More tomorrow. Meanwhile, check the PokerStars blog today to see who comes out on top in the LAPT Grand Final.