Francisco Baruffi Neto Leads The Final Table
It took just more than nine levels of Day 3 action, but we are down to a final table of nine at LAPT Punta del Este.
The day started with 76 hopefuls looking to find their way into the money. It took Bolivar Palacios running 
into 
for the bubble to burst, but his elimination guaranteed the remaining 56 players an LAPT cash. From there, many others hit the rail. Team PokerStars Pro Nacho Barbero, LAPT Season 4 Colombia champion Julian Menendez, and Day 1 chip leader Juan Garcia were among them.
Garcia held the chip lead with 15 players remaining, but finished in 15th place after losing a gigantic pot to Francisco Baruffi Neto. A series of raises between the two culminated with Baruffi Neto all in and at risk with 
against the 
of Garcia. The 
flop changed nothing, but the 
spiked on the turn. The 
river completed the board, giving Baruffi Neto the chip lead and leaving Garcia on life support.
From there, Baruffi Neto maintained the lead and will enter the final table as chip leader. Here is how the final nine players stack up:
| Seat | Player (Country) | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francisco Baruffi Neto (Brazil) | 1,346,000 |
| 2 | Osvaldo Silvio Resquin (Argentina) | 802,000 |
| 3 | Guido Ruffini (Argentina) | 1,259,000 |
| 4 | Vladimir Dobrovolskiy (Russia) | 511,000 |
| 5 | Marcelo Ramos Da Fonseca (Brazil) | 460,000 |
| 6 | Carlos Leoncio Mironiuk (Argentina) | 751,000 |
| 7 | Pablo Melogno (Uruguay) | 602,000 |
| 8 | Angel Guillen (Mexico) | 421,000 |
| 9 | Ivan Luca (Argentina) | 1,254,000 |
Play resumes Sunday at 1pm local time, so be sure to keep it here at PokerNews to see who becomes the newest LAPT champion. Until then, good night from Punta del Este!