LAPT 8 Panama - Eight Final Players Led by Olga Iermolcheva

11:22
12 May

Last week was entirely marked by the Grand Final of the European Poker Tour, but as important as it may be, that event is now in the past and players have moved on in search for new titles. One such title will be awarded shortly in the Main Event of Latin American Poker Tour stop in Panama, as the starting field of 422 players has been reduced to just eight.

These eight will be battling it up for the first place of $180,112; while this may not be a seven-figure amount, it is certainly a very respectable sum and there is no doubt that every single one of the players with chips still in front of them will do their best to seize it. After all, there is about $160,000 dividing eight and first.

Leading the final pack is Olga Iermolcheva with 2.7 million in chips. Iermolcheva was able to seize the lead going into the final day, finally dethroning Shakeeb Kazemipur who finished both Days 1 & 2 at the top of the chip counts. However, e is still second in chips, with a stack of 1.5 million, so he will represent a serious threat.

The only other player in the million club is Tullio Bertoli, with 1,103,000, followed by Francois Lincourt with 890k. The rest of the final table is made up by Pierce McKeller (741,000), Francisco Rocha (592,000), Damian Salas (488,000) and, finally, the official short stack Derek Ecenarro with only 290,000.

I'll need some luck tomorrow, but I will play my game and hope things go well. I have a lot of chips, hopefully the rest of the chips will come to me. Olga Iermolcheva, PokerStars Blog;
Iemolcheva, who as of now looks good to claim the title, almost missed the event, as she was playing in the EPT11 Grand Final and she flew across the world to get to Panama in time and compete in the LAPT. It wasn't easy, no doubt, but she will be happy to have done it, especially if her lead translates into victory.
Young Ukrainian is looking good to top her biggest cash to date - $33,500 for the victory in the €550 Deepstack Event of the Estrellas Poker Tour in 2014, and should she claim the title, she will double her lifetime earnings.
In second chip-position, Shakeeb Kazemipur doesn't have any big results recorded by the Hendon Mob and he will be looking to change that in style. Although he lost the chip lead he held for a long time, after surrendering a big pot to Iermolcheva, he still has plenty to play with and it will be interesting to see if the two get entangled in some more interesting confrontations (which is almost guaranteed to happen).
Photo: Carlos Monti, PokerStars Blog

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