LAPT -- Dominik Nitsche Wins Mar del Plata Grand Final

The PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour Grand Final took place in Mar del Plata, Argentina, and the $5,200 no-limit hold’em main event attracted 291 players, including Team PokerStars pro J.C. Alvarado, who is fresh off of his win in the $1,000 buy-in PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker main event. The turnout set a record for the largest prize pool at an LAPT event with more than $1.4 million up for grabs. The nine contestants at the final table took their seats on Apr. 19 to play down to one champion who would walk away with $381,030. Here were the chip counts when the final table began:

Dominik Nitsche -- 817,000
Sergio Farias -- 474,000
Jason Skeans -- 338,000
Jorge Landazuri -- 329,000
Leo Fernandez -- 329,000
Jose Barbero -- 181,000
Rodolfo Awad -- 170,000
Derek Lerner -- 155,000
Alfons Fenijn -- 65,000

On the second had at the final table, Jose Barbero was knocked out of the tournament in ninth place ($28,220) when his A-K fell to the pocket fives of Sergio Farias. Alfons Fenijn was the short-stack at that point, and he fell in eight place ($35,280) when his Q-10 ran into the pocket jacks of Farias. The jacks held, and Farias scored his second elimination of the day. Rodolfo Awad got in on the elimination action next when his pocket queens sent Derek Lerner home in seventh place ($49,400).

Young German player Dominik Nitsche woke up with pocket aces next at just the right time. Leo Fernandez held pocket tens and moved all in, and then Farias found pocket kings in the hole and he was all in preflop, as well. The aces held for Nitsche, and he eliminated Fernandez in sixth place ($63,520), and Farias in fifth place ($77,620). The double-knockout took things down to four final players.

Jason Skeans was stuck on a short-stack and was forced to move all in preflop with 6-2 offsuit a few hands later. Awad called him down with A-7, and the ace high was good enough to win the hand and send Skeans home in fourth place ($105,860). The battle for third place came down to a skirmish between pocket pairs. Awad held pocket fours against the pocket nines of Jorge Landazuri, and although Awad found a third four on the flop, Landazuri found a third nine on the river to win the hand and eliminate Awad in third place ($141,140).

The heads-up match began with Nitsche holding a large 2-1 chip lead, and things were over quickly. The final hand was also the first hand between the final two players. Nitsche raised preflop to 80,000, and Landazuri made the call. The flop was dealt K 9 8, and Landazuri checked. Nitsche opened the action for 50,000, and Landazuri check-raised to 140,000. Nitsche made the call, and the turn fell 10. Landazuri bet 150,000, and Nitsche made the call before the river fell K. Landazuri moved all in, and Nitsche made the call. They turned up their hands, and Nitsche held K J. Landazuri turned up J 5, and he was eliminated in second place ($211,700). Nitsche won the LAPT Grand Final for season two, and he took home $381,030.

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