Fabian Fabulous in Chile

Latin America takes home a LAPT title. News from PokerStars below.

I'm off to Treasure Island this weekend, listen for poker players from Red Wing, MN begging for mercy from my deadly check-calls.

FABIAN ORTIZ BECOMES FIRST LATIN AMERICAN WINNER OF A POKERSTARS LAPT EVENT

Viña Del Mar, Chile - January 23, 2009: 39-year-old Fabian Ortiz, from Argentina, has become the first ever Latin American poker player to win a PokerStars.net LAPT title with his victory at the inaugural Chile event inViña del Mar.

Ortiz, who lives in the rural province of Chaco, (pronounciation: Chako) defeated a strong field of players from 27 countries to take home the title and first prize of $141,426.

A former disco owner he now does most of his dancing on the poker circuit where he has shown he is fearless on the felt with some success. Latin American players dominated the starting field with almost everynation represented. Fifty players were from the host country of Chile alone and every seat at the final table was taken by a player from Latin America -including Fabio Escobar, who won his seat to the event on PokerStars.

"Fabian Ortiz's win demonstrates the growth of poker as a Latin American sport", said LAPT President Glenn Cademartori. "This is our first eventwhere the majority of the field was made up of Latin American players. We expect many more local champions as this sport continues to grow in popularity in the region.

"The LAPT Viña del Mar event, at the prestigious Viña del Mar Casino and Resort, attracted a host of international poker stars including TeamPokerStars Pros Humberto Brenes from Costa Rica, Andre Akkari from Brazil, and the former Brazilian stock car racer and PokerStars sponsored player Gualter Salles.

Also representing Costa Rica were Max and Maria Stern, the only married couple who have both won WSOP bracelets. Ortiz bested Argentinian Veronica Dabul, who cashed three times at the WSOP in 2008.

The next event on the LAPT tour will be in Punta del Este, Uruguay in March, followed by the season finale in Mar del Plata, Argentina in April.

All the LAPT events will be broadcast by ESPN in Latin America later in the year.

Visit http://www.lapt.com for more information; for LAPT Viña del Mar reports, visit the PokerStars blog at http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/ and http://www.pokerstars.tv.

Ryan Fee Charges the Field in San Jose

Tonight, I'm on duty for the Sunday Warm-up, someone make a final table for once!!!

Press release from the recent LAPT event win by Ryan Fee from PokerStars:

POKERSTARS LAPT SEASON TWO KICKS OFF WITH AMERICAN RYAN FEE WINNING SAN
JOSE CHAMPIONSHIP AND $285,773

2008 Latin American Poker Tour –
NOVEMBER 7, 2008 -- A former college student turned poker pro won his
first major tournament today. Ryan Fee, a 20-year-old online poker player from
Philadelphia, PA won one of Costa Rica’s biggest poker events ever. The
international poker tournament, which attracted players from five different
continents and 33 different countries, was the first event of Season
Two on the Latin American Poker Tour sponsored by PokerStars.net.

Fee topped a
highly-competitive field of 219 players and won the top cash prize of more than
a quarter million dollars. The tournament which cost $3,700 to enter was
one of the highest buy-in events ever held in the Latin America. In fact, this
year’s entry fee was $1,000 more than last year – which served as the inaugural
LAPT offering. Nonetheless, Fee – who plays poker regularly at PokerStars and
who admitted he had very little live tournament experience – won a most
impressive victory.

The three-day event was held at the Ramada
Plaza Herradura Conference Centre in San Jose. Adorned in Costa Rican flags and
PokerStars banners, the tournament room provided the flavor of an international
sporting event. The tournament's final hand was typical of three exciting
days of poker action. Fee was dealt A-10. His opponent Joel Micka was
dealt 4-4 and was out-chipped by a small margin. It appeared Micka might
win the big hand until the fateful river card was dealt -- an ace which gave Fee
the Costa Rican poker championship. The final board showed K-Q-7-8-A,
giving Fee a winning pair of aces.

Fee says that he plans to play
in more upcoming LAPT tournaments, including next month's tournament in Nuevo
Vallarta, Mexico. But first, Fee will return to his home in
Philadelphia. "I want to be home for Thanksgiving," Fee
said. "But after that, I am going to play as many LAPT events as I can.
This victory feels just great."

Based on yet another successful
LAPT event, poker in Latin America is here to stay. "We are extremely excited to
have launched LAPT Season 2, by returning here to San Jose, surrounded by the
beautiful tropics of Costa Rica,” said Glenn Cademartori, LAPT President. “We
were fortunate enough to host such a great tournament in a spectacular venue for
our Latin American players, as well as players from 33 countries around the
globe."

“Ryan Fee is a great young champion and was quite taken
aback having won our biggest first prize to date. He is a sharp guy and has
certainly made his mark in the poker industry with this win. We look forward to
seeing him in Mexico next month,” Cademartori added. “We are quite pleased with
how smoothly the tournament ran and received plenty of praise from our satisfied
players. Many of them will be joining us for our next stop in Nuevo Vallarta,
Mexico, December 5-7. We’re breaking new ground in Mexico, just as we did in
Brazil last Season. We have created the new standard for the Latin American
poker experience.”

Last year’s LAPT Season One attracted 1,063
players in just three events. Season 2, will include as many as six events and
promises to be considerably bigger with tournaments planned for Mexico, Chile,
Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.

Satellites for the LAPT Neuvo
Vallarta event are available daily at PokerStars. Players have the chance to win
a prize package which includes a main event buy-in, accommodation for four
nights, and spending money for expenses. Please visit http://www.lapt.com/
for more information and updates on the tour dates and how to qualify.