The Latin American Poker Tour Chile Main Event has finally come to an end. It was again Chile’s own Oscar Alache who made the headlines by finishing first to win the trophy. On the last day of five-day poker festival taking place at the Enjoy Viña del Mar Casino, it was after six-and-a-half hours later when Alache topped 410-entry field to win the title. He earned the largest share – $131,162 of the tournament’s $904,460 prize pool.
Previously, it was in October when Alache clinched a red-hot 2014 by winning the LAPT Peru Grand Final. Now Alache has become the third player in the tour’s history to do so along with the two Argentinians, Nacho Barbero and Fabian Ortiz.
Alache was second in chips among the final eight when the final table kicked off. He grabbed the lead early on and remained close to the top on the final day. The first player to leave the table was 63-year-old television director and personality Rodrigo Oliver of Chile who lost his short stack to Alache. Next came the turn of Rodrigo Quezada of Chile. He lost a dramatic hand to Teixeira that saw him flop a flush, Teixeira go all in on the turn after making trips, then Teixeira make a full house on the river. Soon after Quezada shipped the last of his stack to Javier Venegas.
Later, the start-of-day chip leader Fabian Chauriye was knocked out after his J♦T♥ failed to outrun Teixeira’s pocket jacks. Next Justo Esquivel was the fourth straight player from Chile eliminated, going out in fifth after his pocket sixes failed him against Barbero’s straight-making Q♦T♠.
Further came the huge double-up by Teixeira through Venegas that gave her the chip lead. That’s when the final four players decided to strike a deal to divide most of the prize money while leaving $20,000 and the trophy for which to play. Barbero’s quest for still more LAPT glory ended soon thereafter when A♦J♦ failed him against Venegas’s A♠Q♥ to send him rail-ward in fourth. This year Nacho Barbero made a record of reaching the LAPT Main Event final table seventh time. Then Teixeira took out the other Argentinian at the final table Venegas in third after the latter called her all-in push, showing K♠6♥ to her A♦5♠ and being unable to improve.
Though the heads-up match happened between Alache and Teixeira for 30-40 minutes, but despite the urgings of her considerable rail, she lost the lead, then in an all-in situation couldn’t outrace Alache’s pocket tens with her A♠Q♠to go out in second. Teixeira’s showing represented the best ever finish for a woman at the LAPT, one spot ahead of the third-place finish of Jessica Bedoya at LAPT Colombia in Season 4.
Given below is the list of players who played at the final table:
- Oscar Alache (Chile) — $131,962*
- Renata Teixeira (Brazil) — $113,460*
- Javier Venegas (Argentina) — $86,505*
- Nacho Barbero (Argentina) — $100,073*
- Justo Esquivel Lagos (Chile) — $51,460
- Fabian Chauriye (Chile) — $39,620
- Rodrigo Quezada (Chile) — $29,480
- Rodrigo Oliver (Chile) — $21,340
* Final 4 made a deal