Poker Tournament? What Poker Tournament?
The dust is still settling after the fiasco that was the situs slot deposit pulsa LAPT Nueveo Vallarta, and apparently some would like to pretend it never happened.
To recap, at about 10:30 p.m. CT Friday evening, day 1 of the second event of the LAPT’s second season, play was suspended with 89 of the original 242 entrants still in the running when tournament director Mike Ward put a halt to the action. The tournament room was cleared and the players were left wondering what was going on until around midnight, when they were told to come back on noon on Saturday for an update. The players returned the next day at the appointed time and were told that the problem was still being worked on. Finally, several hours later, the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) announced that the tournament was canceled, “due to an indefinite suspension served on one of its local partners,” by local gaming authorities.
The 89 remaining players were each paid $5000 out of the prize pool, with the remainder of the pool divided up between the players by chip count. PokerStars also paid the players $500 each. Thanks for coming ou.
Now, leaving aside the issue of what many players think was a really bad chop (shortstacks got compensated handsomely while above average stacks got hosed), you’d think there would be some official follow-up from the LAPT or PokerStars to explain what happened.
Instead, the main link to LAPT Nuevo Vallarta News has magically disappeared from the LAPT links on PokerStars’ blog site (see for yourself here at PokerStar’s blog) and there is nothing posted on the LAPT site beyond the original cancellation announcement. There is some saving grace though, as you can still access the PokerStars blog posts that were made before the tourney was canceled through the link that’s still up on the LAPT site (http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/lapt/season-2-1/), not that that will tell you anything more about why the tournament ended so disastrously.
Looks like some people are still wiping the egg off their faces and just wish PokerStars LAPT Nuevo Vallarta would go away.
Easy as One, Two: Aussie Martin Rowe Takes Down APPT Grand Final, Comes Second in APPT TOC
Sydney native Martin Rowe, 34, became the latest PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Grand Final champion. Rowe won AU$1 million as the top finisher out of a field of 476 entrants, all competing for a total prize pool of over $2.8 million. And, as if that wasn’t enough, he followed-up by coming in second to Vanessa Rousso in the APPT Tournament of Champions, donating a cheque of AU$5,000 to the Save the Children Fund.
With seven Australians at the APPT Grand Final final table of nine, the odds were pretty good that an Aussie was going to take down the championship. In second place behind Rowe came Jason Gray for a payday of AU$476,000, followed by Tony Basile of Canada in third (AU$266,000), then Antonio Fazzolari (AU$182,000), and Timothy English (AU$140,000), who qualified through PokerStars in a Last Chance Qualifier last Monday for $475. Frank Saffioti finished in sixth place (AU$100,800), followed by Daniel Kowalski of Poland (AU$72,800), Hai Bo Chu (AU$53,200), and Tom Rafferty in ninth place (AU$39,200).
Final table play lasted nine and a half hours, culminating in a final hand where Gray pushed all-in with 9h-5h over Rowe’s pre-flop raise of 250,000, only to be called by Rowe’s Ac-Qh. The flop came As-Qc-5s, giving Rowe top-two and Gray bottom pair. Gray improved to two pair with a 9s falling on the turn, but his river boat never came and the tournament was over.
“I cannot believe I have won tonight. I felt on edge but not out of control the entire tournament and now to have the title I am just ecstatic – this will be life changing for my family,” said Rowe, an insurance worker, after his win.
In the APPT Tournament of Champions, Vanessa Rousso knocked Rowe off when he was short-stacked and forced to shove everything in pre-flop with 9-7 off suit. Rousso called with K-5 and the board blanked, giving Rousso the win.
APPT Sydney marks the end the second season of the PokerStars APPT. Season 3 is due to be announced shortly.