The Latin American Poker Tour is sponsored by PokerStars and is arguably the largest series of poker tournaments in Latin America. As with the European, Asia-Pacific and North-American Poker Tours, the stops are held in different locations around the region and the tournaments are televised, with this current season being the third to have aired.

The stop in Rosario, Argentina was the Grand Final of this season, and ran from September 23nd through to September 26th. 254 hopeful competitors made their way to the felt to battle it out over four days, having each paid $5,000 a piece. The total prize pool was $1,176,220, giving a very respectable first place prize of $322,280.

Martin Sansour is a relatively unknown player, but has proven this week that he’s a force to be reckoned with on the poker table. Originally from Peru, the young player knows his way around a deck of cards and earlier this year placed 13th in the LAPT Punta del Este stop in Uruguay. Due to the nature of poker tournaments and their top-heavy prize structure he only received $10,420 for his efforts in that tournament, which was his largest single win before this week. With LAPT Rosario under his belt, Sansour increases his total career cashes to four, and his total winnings to just over $340,000.

Sansour kicked off the final table at this in chips, which is a respectable position. It was quickly apparent that he wasn’t going to try and cruise his way to victory, however, as he went on a remarkable run with his chips seeming to spend more time in the middle of the table than in front of him.   He eliminated not one, two, three or four but five players in a row, accumulating a massive pile of chips as play became three-handed. Would-be runner-up Bolivar Palacios put an end to the impressive streak as he knocked out third-place getter Daniel Ades, leaving just two men standing in the tournament.

Coming into Heads-Up play, Sansour unsurprisingly held more than a 2:1 chip advantage after his rampage of eliminations. Heads-up poker can sometimes last for hours even with very short stacks as the chips seem to bounce back and forth between players with no end in sight. This was not to be the case at LAPT Rosario, however, as two hands into play Sansour shoved with AK and was promptly called by his opponent’s AQ. A King fell on the flop and nothing on the turn or river managed to flip the odds, and so Martin Sansour eliminated Palacious, picking up the tournament title, trophy and his biggest ever cash prize of $322,280.

PokerStars wants to send the ladies to beautiful Monte Carlo. When you arrive, you will be living like a high roller. PokerStars will provide accommodations at the exclusive Columbus Monaco where you can gaze at the gorgeous vista created by the French Riviera. Additionally, PokerStars will enroll you in Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso’s Ladies Bootcamp, so you can make a deep run in the €1,100 Ladies tournament, which is also a part of the Luxury Ladies Poker Club prize package. If you are interested in 5 days of poker and pampering take a look at PokerStars’ website for details. Free qualifiers are available every week starting March 6. This promotion is only open to female players at PokerStars!

Pass the sugar! PokerStars is looking for the next superstar to dominate the ANZPT (Australia New Zealand Poker Tour). Dream Job Australia will award a $100,000 contract to one lucky, dedicated player. The $100,000 PokerStars’ sponsorship provides $40,000 in ANZPT tournament entries and a $5000 monthly salary.  Daily Dream Job Australia Freeroll Qualifiers eventually feed players into the Dream Job Australia Grand Final on March 27. The top 10 finishers in the Grand Final emerge as Dream Job Australia Finalists. The finalists will be put through a grueling poker knowledge test, meet Team PokerStars Australia, and  communicate their poker feats via social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Hopefully their tweets impress their poker following, because the poker community votes to decide the ultimate Dream Job Australia winner! Free qualifiers are running now, so don’t miss out!

Congratulations to Team PokerStars Pro Jose “Nacho” Barbero for winning LAPT Punta Del Este! Barbero, who hails from Argentina, became the first Latin American to take down an event on the Latin American Poker Tour since its inception in 2008. In addition to representing his heritage, Barbero collected nearly $280,000 for his victory. The LAPT was scheduled to stop in the beautiful Viña Del Mar, Chile, but a devastating 8.8 magnitude rocked Chile on February 27. PokerStars will update the status of the event shortly. Our thoughts and prayers go out to anyone who was affected by the powerful quake.

You don’t have to be an Australian woman to win at PokerStars! All players can take advantage of VIP Stellar Rewards, instant cash given away just for partaking in your favorite tournaments like the Sunday Lunch and Sunday Million. VIP Stellar Rewards are of course awarded to cash game players as well. There has never been a better time to sign-up at PokerStars. In addition to PokerStars’ promotions, we at FlopTurnRiver.com can give you a little something extra! To receive a handsome bonus and monthly invitations to exclusive tournaments, register your new account with the PokerStars Marketing Code flopturnriver. When you are ready to deposit, use the PokerStars Bonus Code STARS600 for a 100% Deposit Bonus up to $600! When you use PokerStars Marketing Code flopturnriver in conjunction with PokerStars Bonus Code STARS600 you will be invited to private monthly freerolls and money added tournaments. We give away $1000 every month of the year in restricted freerolls and tournaments such as the FTR300, a $3 freezeout with $300 added to the prizepool. Stop playing the Hubble Freeroll, making money is fun with PokerStars Bonus Marketing code flopturnriver and PokerStars Bonus Code STARS600!

Congratulations go out to Harrison ‘gibler321′ Gimbel for taking down the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. At the age of 19, Gimbel is the youngest player to be touting a PCA title. Early in the PCA, Gimbel gained notoriety by cracking Barry Greenstein’s AA with his 46 offsuit. LOL DONKAMENTS!    Gimbel gained momentum at the final table by winning a critical race, AKs v JJ, that put a huge dent in Ryan D’Angelo’s stack and vaulted young Harrison to the top of the pack. Superior decison making and strong value bets propelled Gimbel to heads-up play versus Ty Reiman. The final hand of the PCA had the pocket tens of Gimbel holding a commanding preflop lead over pocket eights of Reiman. Gimbel cemented his edge with flopped a set of tens. The turn was an 8, giving Reiman a set of eights and a glimmer (the last 8 in the deck) of hope. The river was a brick, it was all over. Gimbel faded a one-outter and collected a $2.2 million pay day. Barry Shulman, Card Player CEO, finished in third place.

Don’t forget, PokerStars is giving you the opportunity to meet Joe Cada in Las Vegas for free! Cada rose to stardom by becoming the youngest player to win the WSOP in November 2009. Cada’s WSOP Main Event victory netted Joe over $8.5 million and earned him a spot alongside the likes of Daniel Negreanu on Team PokerStars Pro. Players seeking to go to Vegas to meet Joe will play in daily freerolls which award the top 45 players seats into Weekly Finals. These Weekly Finals take place every week starting January 10 and ending on February 13. Play your A game during the Grand Finals because the winner receives a free trip to Las Vegas! The Vegas package will include airfare, five-nights accommodation, a day with Joe Cada, $1000 to spend in Vegas, and a seat at a live PokerStars event that you could parlay into hundreds of thousands of dollars!

PokerStars is taking care of you in 2010! PokerStars has upgraded their VIP Program so that everyone gets taken care of. Microstakes players will love the addition of VIP Stellar Rewards which award players with cash when they hit certain miniature VPP milestones over the course of 2010. The cash starts pouring in when you accumulate just 750 VPPs! Tournament players will love the quartlerly million dollar freeolls introduced by the new PokerStars VIP Program. Start building your bankroll at PokerStars today!

Want even more of a boost to your bankroll? FTR and PokerStars have teamed up to give you the sweetest deal on the net. Simply register your new account using the PokerStars Marketing Code flopturnriver. When you are ready to deposit, use the PokerStars Bonus Code STARS600 for a 100% bonus up to $600! When you use PokerStars Marketing Code flopturnriver in conjunction with PokerStars Bonus Code STARS600 you will be invited to private freerolls every month! In addition to freerolls, you will gain exclusive access to money-added events such as the FTR300, a $3 freezeout with $300 added to the prizepool! We give away $1000 in tournaments a month! Remember, making money is fun with PokerStars Bonus Marketing Code flopturnriver and the PokerStars Bonus Code STARS600!

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure drew nearly 1600 entrants, so the massive field was divided into Day 1A and Day 1B. 668 PCA hopefuls started Day 1A with 30,000 chips. The big surprise of Day 1A was PokerStars qualifier, Wayne Bentley. Bentley, hailing from the UK, managed to run his AA into KK early on and continued to steamroll the competition throughout Day 1A, amassing nearly 330,000 chips. Kevin ‘BeL0WaB0Ve’ Saul, WPT Champion and online phenom, has managed to accumulate an impressive stack of 175,500. In 2009, BeL0WaB0Ve finished in 8th place at the PCA, so it will be interesting to see if he can make another deep run. PokerStars Team Pro and poker legend Daniel Negreanu has a healthy stack of 124,000. Dennis Phillips, who finished 3rd in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, is also making a strong showing for Team Pro, having accumulated 113,000 chips.

Day 1B of the PCA was a bit slower  than Day 1A. When it was all said and done, no one came close to Wayne Bentley’s gigantic stack, so he takes a commanding chip lead into Day 2 of the PCA. Anibal Tacla, from Brazil, emerged as the front runner of Day 1B with 166,000 chips. Annette ‘Annette_15 ‘ Obrestead has solid stack of 125,000. What Day1B lacked in poker action it made up for in the sheer number of stars. On Day 1B, it was too hot in here for rap star Nelly. His top two pair ran into a straight, but his smile was still on the rocks as he hippity hopped his way out of the PCA. Playboy Playmate Jayde Nicole found herself stacked when her JJ couldn’t outrace AK. Rounding out the celebrity studded Day 1B were sports stars Boris Becker and Mats Sundin.

With over 1500 entrants and a prize pool in excess of $15 million the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is the largest PCA of all time! We will have Day 2 PCA updates soon, so stay tuned!

First, in celebration of awarding $5million since the inception of the Battle of the Planet leaderboards began, they are doubling the prize pool for each division from Nov 8 – Nov 21. If you are not familiar, Battle of the Planets is a sit n go leaderboard. It is divided into different “planets” for the different SNG stakes.

In news, PokerStars nabbed the newest (and youngest) WSOP Main Event Champion, 21 year old Joe Cada. PokerStars is huge $$$$ and I am sure their sponsorship deal is so lucrative the champion can’t say no. They are also running a 100k Congrats Joe Cada tournament on November 22.

The PokerStars Sunday Million had its largest prize pool ever. With over 18,000 entrants the prizepool was about $3.65 million. First place was just over $280,000.

The Turbo Takedown, a massive tourney where the buy-in is 3000 FPPs (player points), is set to take place at the end of the month on the 29th. In addition to the $1 million prize pool, there are pro bounties, bonuses for repeat cashes, and the winner receives an Audi TT.

PokerStars currently has tons of PCA satellites going on. They picked up this popular tournament from the WPT and put it on their own LAPT early next year in January. The PCA satellites are sure rival the WSOP satellites in volume. In addition to real money satellites, freerolls to the PCA start every hour at twenty past the hour. You have no excuse not to qualify!

Finally, PokerStars has lowered its minimum electronic check (E-check) deposit to just $10! Turn a little into a lot!

PokerStars continues to kill the market, they have about twice as many players online at any given time compared to Full Tilt. They have the best customer support. Their VIP program is insane when you reach the higher levels. If you are playing higher stakes (especially SNGs), you are burning money by not playing at Stars. The money they make and therefore are able to give away in promotions is unrivaled.

Go check out PokerStars today!

At that time, PokerStars decided to play the tournament online until they got to the final table.  They would then bring all of the players remaining to another location to finish out the tournament live.  In hopes of making amends to the players, PokerStars added $50,000 to the prize pool.  That is what the final table participants would be playing for.

It came down to Americans Rory Cox and Helen Prager as the final two players.  Cox went into heads-up play with a commanding chip lead of nearly 5 to 1.  However, Prager played back and actually took the lead by the time players went to break for dinner.  It was a lead that would not last though.  In the end Cox was able to take down first place and the $15,000 that came with it.  For her second place finish, Prager took home $11,000.

Here’s the final table participants and their winnings:

9th – Victor Ramdin – $1,000

8th – Alex Brenes – $1,500

7th – Bolivar Polacios – $2,000

6th – Martha Herrera – $3,000

5th – Stephen Thompson – $4,000

4th – Leonardo Emperador – $5,000

3rd – Pavel Naydenov – $7,500

2nd – Helen Prager – $11,000

1st – Rory Cox – $15,000

LAPT Mar del Plata
The Latin American Poker Tour is now in its second incarnation. The LAPT Mar Del Plata event is the southernmost PokerStars event on the calendar, being held in the beautiful Casino Central of the even more beautiful country of Argentina! Mar del Plata is one of the major fishing ports and the biggest seaside beach resort in Argentina. Do not miss this unique chance to go down south (*note: not down under ) to grab your share of the huge prize pool! Be sure to qualify today!
Venue: Casino Central
City: Mar del Plata, Argentina
Date: April 16-19, 2009
Buy-in: $5,000+ $200

EPT Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo, the perennial country of the rich and famous, and it’s also home to the Great Dane Gus Hansen and the Flying Finn Patrick Antonius. Naturally, it only serves right that the most important event in the whole EPT Calendar just HAS to be held there, and since a few things in the world do make sense, it does happen to be held there indeed. The EPT Monte Carlo is the main event of the whole EPT series, and as such, last year awarded a mind-boggling 2,000,000 EUR to PokerStars qualifier Glen Chorny. Aside from that, most of the current cream of the crop of poker players, including Antonius and Ivey, at some point in their illustrious careers left their mark on this tournament.
Do you have the balls required? Qualify to play today, and you too can leave your mark in this prestigious tournament held in the land of royalty and stars!
Venue: Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort
Date: April 28-May3, 2009
Buy-in: Eur 10,000
Cap: 1,000

While the details are still being worked out, it appears that PokerStars is attempting to nail down a fair start time for what they are calling a freeroll.  This freeroll will be available to all 89 of the players that were remaining at the cancellation of the tournament.  All players will begin the freeroll with the same chip count that they had at the close of the live event.

When play gets down to the final nine competitors, those players will be flown to Vina del Mar, the LAPT’s stop in Chili, where they will play a televised final table.  PokerStars will also try to make amends for the fiasco by adding more money to the pot.  Sarne Lightman, Director of Marketing for PokerStars Latin America made this statement:  “We know that many of the remaining players wanted the opportunity to finish this tournament and earn their shot at an LAPT title.  Although the tournament was suspended and the prize money distributed, PokerStars still wants to offer the players this extra opportunity.  PokerStars will also be adding $50,000 in prize money to the final table.”

To recap, at about 10:30 p.m. CT Friday evening, day 1 of the second event of the LAPT’s second season, play was suspended with 89 of the original 242 entrants still in the running when tournament director Mike Ward put a halt to the action. The tournament room was cleared and the players were left wondering what was going on until around midnight, when they were told to come back on noon on Saturday for an update. The players returned the next day at the appointed time and were told that the problem was still being worked on. Finally, several hours later, the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) announced that the tournament was canceled, “due to an indefinite suspension served on one of its local partners,” by local gaming authorities.

The 89 remaining players were each paid $5000 out of the prize pool, with the remainder of the pool divided up between the players by chip count. PokerStars also paid the players $500 each. Thanks for coming out.

Now, leaving aside the issue of what many players think was a really bad chop (shortstacks got compensated handsomely while above average stacks got hosed), you’d think there would be some official follow-up from the LAPT or PokerStars to explain what happened.

Instead, the main link to LAPT Nuevo Vallarta News has magically disappeared from the LAPT links on PokerStars’ blog site (see for yourself here at PokerStar’s blog) and there is nothing posted on the LAPT site beyond the original cancellation announcement. There is some saving grace though, as you can still access the PokerStars blog posts that were made before the tourney was canceled through the link that’s still up on the LAPT site (http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/lapt/season-2-1/), not that that will tell you anything more about why the tournament ended so disastrously.

Looks like some people are still wiping the egg off their faces and just wish PokerStars LAPT Nuevo Vallarta would go away.

Today, the Latin American Poker Tour released a statement that said it was canceling the tournament due to an indefinite suspension served on one of its local partners.

“The LAPT states it has cooperated fully and in good faith with the requirements outlined by the Mexican government.  The LAPT respects and abides by local regulations in each market,” said the statement on the LAPT web site.

“LAPT’s partner in Mexico obtained a formal ruling from the Mexican Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB) allowing the event to take place.  As the LAPT compiled with every rule stipulated by the Code of the Mexican Federal Law of Games and Raffles, the reasons for suspension are being reviewed by lawyers of all parties.”

At last word, the 89 players who were waiting to play out the tournament will each get $5,000 from the prize pool, with the remainder of the pool being distributed among the players based on chip count. Only 27 players would have cashed if the tournament had played to its conclusion. Tournament sponsor PokerStars has said it also will give each of the remaining players $500 in addition to their winnings from the prize pool.

Sponsored by PokerStars, the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) started in May 2008 in Brazil and has staged events in Rio de Janeiro, San José in Costa Rica and Punta del Este in Uruguay.