On Thursday, the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), which is sponsored by PokerStars, announced that the tournament series will head to San Jose on November 3rd. The tournament will take place at the Ramada Plaza, Herradura Conference Center. The $1 million guaranteed prize pool event boasts a $3,700 buy-in and is the first stop of Season Two of the LAPT.
The buy-in for all tournaments during Season Two except the LAPT Championship has been increased to $3,700. The Championship event will run players $5,200. Last year in the Costa Rican city, Valdemar Kwaysser, a PokerStars qualifier, took down the first LAPT San Jose event for $274,103. He bested a field of 398 players en route to the win. Kwaysser defeated American Max Steinberg heads-up; Steinberg took home $144,773. Another American, Steven Silverman, finished third, pocketing $106,167.
Because the tournament was sponsored by PokerStars, several members of Team PokerStars Pro traveled to San Jose to play last time around, including Daniel Negreanu, Isabelle Mercier, and Andre Akkari. Costa Rican native Humberto Brenes also took part. The Season One LAPT San Jose event wasn’t just limited to players from the Americas, however. Poker enthusiasts from the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, South Africa, and Poland all made the sojourn to the Western Hemisphere.
LAPT President Glenn Cademartori commented in a press release distributed by PokerStars on Thursday, “PokerStars LAPT Season One was defined by ground-breaking debut success. Season Two will be defined by growth and expansion as we fully spread the tour across Latin America. We were so overwhelmed with the success of LAPT Season One that we wanted to come back with Season Two straight away, moving it into the high-season for Latin American tourism.”
Season One brought the LAPT to Rio, San Jose, and Punta del Este. For Season Two, tournaments will be added in Mexico, Chile, and Argentina, bringing the grand total to six events. The second season of the series will wrap up in April. Cademartori added, “It will be the best time for Latin Americans, as well as North Americans, Europeans and players from across the globe, to travel to these exotic destinations for live high-stakes championship poker.” Season One attracted a total of 1,000 entrants.
Here is the schedule for the San Jose tournament. All times are local:
November 2nd, 2008
Welcome Party: 7:00pm
Sit and Go Satellites into the Main Event: 9:30pm
November 3rd, 2008
Registration and Direct Buy-ins: 9:00am
Main Event Day 1: 12:00 Noon
November 4th, 2008
Registration for the Second Chance: 10:00am
Main Event Day 2: 12:00 Noon
Second Chance: 1:00pm
November 5th, 2008
Main Event Final Table: 12:00 Noon
Satellites to the LAPT San Jose are currently running on PokerStars. Winners of tournament packages will receive a Main Event buy-in, four nights’ hotel accommodation, and money for expenses. All players in LAPT events receive 10,000 starting chips. Blinds begin at 25-50 and each level runs for one hour. Antes kick in during Level 4 and there is a 10 minute break after every two levels of play. The final table is played nine-handed, unlike World Poker Tour events, which are six-handed.
In addition to having a hand in the LAPT, PokerStars is also the official sponsor of the European Poker Tour (EPT) and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT). Pokerstars lends its name to the EPT’s Caribbean Adventure stop, which takes place at the Atlantis Paradise Island Hotel in The Bahamas.