LAPT Grand Final: Daniel Negreanu Crashes Final Table
- by Josef Rantamaki
Daniel Negreanu continued on his quest for Latin American Poker Tour Grand Final glory on Monday, after riding the final table bubble in Brazil.
‘Kid Poker’ bagged 702,000 chips in Sao Paolo to crash the top five. Daniele Nestola leads the way with a 1.89 million stack.
Negreanu’s surprise decision to compete in South America is paying dividends, after he became the first player to procure final table finishes in all three of the PokerStars sponsored tours. The American previously ran deep in APPT Sydney and EPT Veina in 2010.
The multiple World Series of Poker bracelet winner never looked in danger on Day 3, though he rarely troubled the chip leaders. Negreanu will be aiming to produce his best form on Tuesday when he could end a barren run without a live tournament title and take down the R$324,600 first prize.
Twenty-four players remained in the running for that six-figure jackpot at the start of the day. Short stack Humberto Brenes had targeted a fast start but he failed to find any momentum and departed in 22nd place when his K-J was crushed by Martin Santos’ rivered pair of threes.
Caio Pimenta and Mayu Roca were among the other notable pros who failed to secure a final table seat. Joshua Ewing was the unfortunate player who fell at the final hurdle. Ewing collected an R$22,390 cheque after Gasperino Nicolas ended his deep run in ninth place with a pocket pair of kings.
Daniele Nestola will lead the charge towards the title after dominating the exchanges late on. However, Nicolas, Carlos Ibarra and Jonathan Markovits will all be confident of fending off the challenge of Nestola and the dangerous Negreanu when the final table plays down to the wire on Day 4.