Karlo Lopez was short-stacked for a long time before we got to today's final table. He was 8th of 8 to start the day, and that's where he ends it. When action passed to him in the hijack position, he opened all in for about 300,000. Leonardo Zepeda was dealt on the button. Lopez didn't have much of a hand, , but he did manage to flop a straight draw with a flop. The board bricked from there, and , to eliminate Lopez in 8th place.
2011 Latin American Poker Tour Peru
The first four-bet of the day came from Raul Pino, and it brought a tight fold from Leonardo Zepeda. Pino opened pre-flop with a standard raise under the gun. Action passed all the way to Zepeda's small blind. He squeezed out his cards and then three-bet to 250,000, folding big blind Samar Hodali. Pino then four-bet all in for 782,000 more. Zepeda gave the matter some thoguht before open-folding .
What started out as a very tight final table has loosened up. Right now Pablo Gonzales is providing most of the action, which was good news for Kemal Ferri in a recent pot.
Ferri opened pre-flop to 94,000, with Gonzales tagging along for the ride. An all-club flop of brought a bet of 150,000 from Ferri and a snap-call from Gonzales. On the turn, Ferri moved all in for 251,000. Gonazles snap-called again with top pair, . It was drawing slim against Ferri's aces and nut flush draw, . The river blanked to double Ferri up to about 1.0 million. Gonzales is down to 1.4 million.
It's safe to say that this final table has not started out how Daniel Ospina hoped it would. He raised pre-flop from early position and was called by big blind (and new chip leader) Pablo Gonzales. Gonzales check-called a bet of 145,000 from Ospina on a queen-high flop, . Both players checked the turn. Gonzales also checked the river.
Ospina studied the board an his opponent carefully for about 30 seconds before announcing a bet of 200,000. Gonzales snap-calledwith , a hand that had out-turned Ospina's . For the second time day, Gonzales slapped the table in triumph, clearly pumped to be the player in command of this table right now.
Gonzales: 2.25 million
Ospina: 560,000
Cards are back in the air. The average stack now has only 22 big blinds. Expect some movement this level.
Level: 25
Blinds: 20,000/40,000
Ante: 5,000
We've reached the end of Level 24. Players are on a scheduled 15-minute break.
Riding the momentum from his double-up against Samar Hodali, Pablo Gonzales decided to take on the chip leader. Gonzales opened to 80,000 pre-flop, then called Ospina's three-bet to 180,000. Both players checked a paired flop of . Gonzales checked again on the turn, inducing a bet of 215,000 from Ospina. Gonzales quickly called.
Both players checked the river. Gonzales opened a pair of 9s, , then slapped the table in triumph after Ospina mucked. Gonzales is now the chip leader with 1.83 million, while Ospina is just barely above 1.0 million.
It took more than an orbit to find the first flop. When it finally came it was a cooler disaster for Samar Hodali. She called from the button after Daniel Ospina opened pre-flop to 72,000. Big blind Pablo Gonzales also called to a three-way flop of . Ospina continued for 106,000, with both opponents calling him.
Those calls were enough to cause Ospina to slow down in a big way on the . He checked behind Gonzales' check. That opened the door for Hodali to bet 200,000. Gonzales then moved all in for 448,000. Ospina folded; Hodali quickly called with bottom set, . Gonzales, however, had middle set with . There was no deuce on the river.
After the hand, Gonzales stood up, walked to Hodali's seat and kissed her lightly on the cheek, a small consolation for a very unlucky hand.
Hodali is down to about 875,000. Gonzales is flirting with the chip lead with 1.45 million.
Play has started out very, very tight at today's final table. The button has been around the table once, with every hand being won by a single pre-flop raise. Chip leader Daniel Ospina has been the largest beneficiary so far. Short stack Karlo Lopez moved all in once but was not called.