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LAPT -- Ryan Fee Wins Season Two Opener in Costa Rica

Fee Took Home $285,733 For First Place -- Next Stop is in Mexico in December

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Humberto BrenesThe first stop on season two of the PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour took place from Nov. 3-5 in San Jose, Costa Rica, at the Ramada Plaza Herradura Conference Center. The $3,500 no-limit hold’em main event attracted 291 entrants, which created a first-place prize worth $285,773. The top 24 finishers in the event walked away with prize money. Pros in the field included Team PokerStars Pro members Humberto Brenes (who is also a native son of Costa Rica), Victor Ramdin, Andre Akkari, and Alexandre Gomes, as well as David Plastik, Carter Gill, and Liv Boeree. The final table took place on Monday, Nov. 5. Here is what the table looked like when things began:

Seat 1: Jeffrey Petronack -- 122,000
Seat 2: Andrew Chen -- 313,000
Seat 3: Brent Sheirbon -- 186,500
Seat 4: Ryan Fee -- 481,000
Seat 5: Claus Rasmussen -- 254,000
Seat 6: Maria Stern -- 151,000
Seat 7: Jesus Bertoli -- 265,000
Seat 8: Joel Micka -- 336,500

It took an hour and 45 minutes for the first player to fall, and it was the only woman at the table, Maria Stern, who fell in eighth place ($24,425) to get the action rolling. The rash of eliminations that followed in the next hour and a half included Claus Rasmussen (seventh place, $34,195), Jeff Petronack (sixth place, $43,960), Andrew Chen (fifth place, $61,063), Jesus Bertoli (fourth place, $80,603), and Brent Sheirbon (third place, $109,913). During this time, Ryan Fee knocked out three opponents, and Joel Micka disposed of two. This allowed Fee to build on the chip lead he brought into the final table to hold a two-to-one heads-up advantage over his opponent, who came to the final table in second chip position.

It took more than 20 minutes for a flop to be seen on the table as the two players tested each other with bets and raises preflop to start their match, and Micka was able to inch back up to even with Fee. Eventually, a flop did come down on the table, and Micka left his fate to chance when he called off all of his chips after a series of bets and raises escalated on the final hand. Here were their cards on that hand:

Micka: 4 4
Fee: A 10

Board: K Q 7 8 A

The ace on the river fell as the crowd rushed in to see the possible conclusion of the match, and it didn’t disappoint them. Micka was eliminated in second place, and he took home $148,993 in prize money. Fee was the champion, and he walked away with $285,773 for his first major tournament victory.

The next stop on the LAPT will take place in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, Dec. 5-7. The three-day no-limit hold’em main event will feature a $2,500 buy-in.