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Monday, May 5, 2008
LAPT deals up final nine in Brazil
Severin Walser won his seat at the LAPT Brazil online at PokerStars and now he's taking on the final table of the event.
By Sarah Polson
Two days of play and 305 eliminations have brought the PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour's inaugural event in Rio de Janiero, Brazil down to the final table.
The top nine players will take to the felt today to battle for a top prize of $222,940 out of a $785,000 prize pool.
Five of the nine remaining players qualified for the LAPT Brazil event through PokerStars.
Vitaly Kovyazin, from Brooklyn, N.Y., earned his spot at the Brazil event at the poker site. This will be his first major event final table, though he has a few live-tournament cashes under his belt.
His most recent tournament earnings came from the $500 No-Limit Hold'em event of the 2008 Borgata Winter Open where he placed 15th. Kovyazin also has a fourth-place finish in the 2007 World Series of Poker Circuit event at Harrah's Atlantic City.
Kovyazin isn't the only online qualifier with some live-tournament cashes under his belt already. Severin Walser, from Zurich, Switzerland, is no stranger to live tournaments either.
Walser's most recent cash in a tournament came a little more than a year ago in the $2,000 Seven-Card Stud event of the 2007 World Series of Poker. There he placed fourth for a $28,105 payday.
Walser also has cashes in events in the 2006 Barcelona Open, the 2005 Aviation Club de France Hold'em series, the 2004 Austrian Classic and the 2004 Paris Open of Poker.
For the three other PokerStars qualifiers - Nikolai Senninger, Rafael Pardo and Oliver Kugler - the LAPT Brazil will be their first major tournament cash.
They will all have their work cut out for them at the final table if they want the win, however. Julien Nuijten begins final-table play today as the chip leader and has nearly a 3-1 lead over his nearest opponent, Kovyazin.
Not too far behind Kovyazin is Alex Brenes, Humberto Brenes' brother and fellow professional poker player. He outlasted his brother at the tournament, and he'll be the only other pro beside Victor Ramdin to cash in LAPT Brazil event.
Ramdin came in in 23rd place for a $7,065 cash in this $2,500 buy-in event.
The complete list of final-table players is as follows:
| Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count |
| Seat 1 | Julien Nuijten | Holland | $970,000 |
| Seat 2 | Vitaly Kovyazin | United States | $380,000 |
| Seat 3 | Alex Brenes | Costa Rica | $324,000 |
| Seat 4 | Nikolai Senninger | Germany | $318,000 |
| Seat 5 | Juan Carlos Burguillos | Venezuela | $297,000 |
| Seat 6 | Rafael Pardo | Colombia | $278,000 |
| Seat 7 | Eduardo Henriques | Brazil | $275,000 |
| Seat 8 | Oliver Kugler | Germany | $176,000 |
| Seat 9 | Severin Walser | Switzerland | $175,000 |
Play resumes today at 2 p.m. local time, and though PokerListings couldn't be live on the scene for the PokerStars LAPT, we'll be sure to tell you who wins once all the cards have played out.
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