Travel Report: 2015 PCA, Day 2 -- The Surge

Last fall when I was in Lima reporting on the final event of Season 7 of the Latin American Poker Tour, I first heard about the plan to kick off Season 8 with a regular LAPT event in the Bahamas. The tournament would be positioned as a kind of special preliminary tourney at the PCA, and thus could draw both the regular tour players (a number of whom already go to the PCA every year) and a lot of new players who’d never participated in an LAPT event before.

My initial reaction was that it sounded like a cool idea, and I liked the thought of mixing together players from all over. I’m a big fan of the LAPT for a variety of reasons, including the many great characters and interesting people who play those events, so I liked thinking about a lot of players from the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere getting to play a big event with that crowd.

I also thought it would be a big event, maybe even the biggest the LAPT had ever staged. But then I interviewed LAPT President David Carrion on Tuesday and he suggested that the turnout might be on the modest side, saying that he’d be happy if it drew 250 entries. I shared Carrion’s thoughts over on the PokerStars blog, then came in yesterday very curious to see just how the turnout would turnout.

It was clear during the first hour that David’s hope to reach 250 was going to be a cinch, as there were already close to 200 in seats from the start and late registration (and the reentry period) lasted through the end of the dinner break. As the afternoon wore on they cruised past 250, then 350, then 450, and we were all laughingly trying to come up with suitable adjectives (“staggering,” “stunning,” “jaw-dropping”) to describe the size of the field.

By the dinner break the number was way over 600, then following the final tallying during the early evening it was determined there were 736 total entries, with 532 unique players and 204 reentries. Just incredible. I had to evoke the water slide here called “The Surge” in my end-of-day recap as I was out of adjectives to use.

That meant a prize pool of close to $2 million, just shy of the LAPT’s biggest ever at Brazil last year. The scheduled first prize of $367,928 is almost a tour record as well, with only the $381,030 Dominik Nitsche won in Argentina back in Season 2 being higher.

The LAPT folks were all predictably elated, and I also was excited to see the event prove such a hit. I thought back to David’s references to the event overlapping with the PCA Main Event (which starts today) and other factors that might limit the field size, all of which had sounded reasonable. But it turned out the LAPT Bahamas event was positioned perfectly for many players arriving a little early this year.

Also had a chance to talk with last year’s PCA Main Event champion yesterday, the young Polish player Dominik Panka. Very friendly, well-spoken guy.

We went late last night, and thanks to the super-sized LAPT field today is guaranteed to be a long one, too, as they’ll try to whittle the 183 survivors down to something manageable before tomorrow.

Check back over at the PokerStars blog today for reports on the LAPT Bahamas event, the finish of the Super High Roller, and the start of the PCA Main Event, and also follow the live reporting at PokerNews for hands, counts, and more. Among other things it should be interesting to see if this LAPT Bahamas surge carries over into the Main.

Travel Report: LAPT7 Chile, Day 2 -- Teach and Learn

Just a couple of quick notes to share from Day 2 of the Latin American Poker Tour Chile Main Event, both tourney-related.

They played down from 195 players to just 32 yesterday, and it took from noon to midnight once again for the day’s play to complete. Along the way I had a chance to chat with Ken “Teach” Aldridge, here amid a first-time visit to South America.

Some may know of “Teach” from his World Series of Poker bracelet win back in 2009 or his runner-up finish in a World Poker Tour event in 2011. He’s collected a number of other cashes and deep runs over the last five years or so, and is an easily recognizable figure thanks to the bright yellow jacket and cap he’s always sporting.

I was kind of surprised to see him here, mostly because the number of U.S. players making the trek down for LAPT events has shrunk dramatically after Black Friday. Some events only get a couple of Americans total; I believe about six played this one.

Read my interview with Aldridge to get to know him better. I especially like his perspective on what he’s doing in his early 60s traveling about playing poker. As he explains, the game has become an avenue for him to meet others and experience the world, something I can identify with greatly.

In fact, I’ll admit I can identify with even more with “Teach,” and not just his background as an educator. As it happens, he and I were born in the same North Carolina town, and he still lives not far away so we have a number of other common touchstones.

As it happened, Aldridge and David Williams both made the cash and then busted on the same hand last night, finishing 43rd and 44th, respectively.

I also enjoyed dinner last night with LAPT President David Carrion, LAPT Tournament Director Mike Ward, LAPT Poker Manager Thomas Koo, and and LAPT Event Manager Maria Paula Montero. There was shop talk about building tours and the impressions afforded by tourney turnouts, prize pools, and other factors -- all kind of fascinating to learn about and consider.

Back to the grind. Check the PokerStars blog for updates as usual.