The Latin American Poker Tour is in the books now after nine seasons of quality poker action around the Latin American region. And the festival was concluded in a befitting manner. Jose Ignacio “Nacho” Barbero, who has been a LAPT regular over the years, grabbed a record third Main Event title during the tour’s last stop. In other words, the player will be the only player to have ever accomplished this prestigious feat.
The final LAPT festival took place in São Paulo, Brazil from November 22 to December 1. The Main Event, a R$8,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament with unlimited re-entries, kicked off on November 29. By Day 2 when registration was closed, there were 329 entries registered. It was announced that players would contend for a first-place prize of R$441,000. Overall, the top 47 spots got paid, with cashes starting from R$12,900. Each of the eight final-table players received a minimum cash of R$45,200.
Day 3, the event’s final day, started with 21 survivors. Barbero was second in chips at that point. By the time the eight-handed final table was set, the player was among the middle stacks but quickly improved to eventually find himself among the three finalists. The three remaining players – Barbero, Thiago Grigoletti, and Felipe Pasini – made a three-way deal based on their chip counts at the time.
Being the chip leader, Pasini secured a payout of R$314,776. Grigoletti was to take R$275,180 and Barbero locked a R$248,068 payout. The players still had R$93,114 as well as the tournament title and trophy to play for.
Pasini was the player to walk out in third place. Heads-up started with Barbero holding a massive 14-million stack against Grigoletti’s modest 1.8 million. It took one hand of play before it became clear that Barbero has made history.
Grigoletti shoved with [8h][4h] and Barbero called instantly with [As][Qh]. The board ran out [Jc][2d][7d][9s][Qd], securing a third title for Barbero and sending Grigoletti to the rail in second place.
Barbero is Argentina’s second most profitable player with live tournament winnings of more than $3.1 million. Back in 2010, he became the first player in LAPT’s history to win two Main Event titles. And it took quite a while before someone else repeated his feat.
Talking to interviewers shortly after his most recent victory, Barbero revealed that he somehow knew that he would win. Overwhelmed by emotion, the player said that this was a fulfilled dream of his, “it just had to happen.”
