The Latin American Poker Tour (Season 2) Costa Rica champion is Ryan Fee, from
Philadelphia, PA (USA).
-- Ryan Fee is a 20-year-old professional poker player. He previously attended
Drexel University in Philadelphia but has since taken a leave from his studies
to travel and do other things. When playing poker, Fee concentrates mostly on
cash games and plays in few tournaments. He has been playing poker seriously
for about two years. This was his first major tournament victory.
-- Fee received a first-place payout totaling $285,773. He was also presented
with a large crystal champion's trophy, sure to be coveted as a keepsake of
his achievement in Costa Rica.
-- This is the first of six international tournaments on the Latin American
Poker Tour -- Season 2. This marks the second time that the LAPT has visited
Costa Rica.
-- The buy-in for this championship event was $3,500, which was $1,000 higher
than last year. This is one of the highest buy-in tournament ever in history
in the Central and South American region.
-- The total prize pool amounted to $977,000. The top 24 finishers collected
prize money.
-- The runner up was Joel Micka, who also plays poker professionally. Micka
is a heads-up and short-handed specialist, who plays in high stakes games. However,
he ended up coming up just one card short and just missed winning his first
major live poker tournament.
-- The tournament's final hand was typical of an exciting three days in Costa
Rica. Ryan Fee was dealt A-10. He had Joel Micka out-chipped by a small margin.
Micka had pocket fours and was all-in. It appeared that Micka might win the
big hand until the final fateful river card was dealt. It was 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.
-- The heads-up finalists (Fee and Micka) were the two youngest players of
the final eight. Both players were 20-years-old.
-- The third-place finisher was Brent Sheirbon, from The Dalles, OR (USA).
Sheirbon finished in the money the last two years in the World Series of Poker
Main Event, finishing 134th and 392nd, out of thousands of players. He is also
a world traveler, having lived in Costa Rica, Panama, India, and Spain.
-- The fourth-place finisher was Jesus Bertoli Juarez, a 25-year-old lawyer
from Venezuela. He has already become one of Latin America's most successful
poker players. He took 24th place in LAPT Season 1, at the Rio de Janiero championship.
He also finished in the money three other times in tournaments held in South
America. Juarez spent just $17 to qualify for his entry online at PokerStars.
-- The fifth-place finisher was Andrew Chen, 20-year-old professional poker
player from Canada. He qualified to play in this event by paying just $215 and
winning his LAPT tournament entry.
-- The sixth-place finisher was Jeff Petronack, a 37-year-old mortgage banker
from the United States. This is his first time to make it to the final table
of a major poker tournament. He qualified to enter online at PokerStars.
-- The seventh-place finisher was Claus Rasmussen, a 22-year-old gamesman from
Denmark. He started out playing table tennis professionally, but has shifted
his focus to poker. Rasmussen qualified to play in this tournament by playing
in several step tournaments at PokerStars.
-- The eighth-place finisher was Maria Stern, who is well-known and has been
playing tournament poker for many years. She is one of the most famous Costa
Rican poker players and is universally loved and admired by everyone, especially
by her devoted husband, Max Stern. In fact, the Sterns are one of only two married
couples who have won gold bracelets at the World Series of Poker. Maria Stern
won he gold bracelet in 1997. Now eleven year's later she made history again
by becoming the first lady ever to make it to an LAPT final table.
-- The final table was completed in just under three hours. Play began at 12:20
and ended at 3:15 pm. The finale took place inside the grand ballroom of the
host hotel-casino.
-- Although all of the players had spectators cheering them on, Maria Stern
was the local crowd favorite. She was the only Costa Rican national to make
it to the final table.
-- Four of the final eight plays qualified to play at PokerStars. One won a
cash satellite at the host casino. Three others paid cash to enter.
-- Oddly enough, no Latin American citizen has yet won a LAPT event. There
have now been four champions - one each from Hungary, Spain, The Netherlands,
and the United States.
-- The championship event attracted 219 entries, from 33 different counties.
Nations represented included:
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Belize
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Columbia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Denmark
Domincan Republic
Finland
France
Germany
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Mexico
Netherlands
Norway
Panama
Peru
Puerto Rico
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
UK
USA
Uruguay
Venezuela
-- The tournament was a three-day event.
-- Prior to the start of the final table, a press conference was held near tableside.
About 40 members of the media asked questions of the eight finalists. All of
the players were enthusiastic supporters of poker in Latin America and believe
the game has a bright future. The press conference lasted about 45-minutes and
was filled with several candid moments.
-- "San Jose was the most successful event of LAPT's first season. So,
it made perfect sense to start Season 2 right here in the heart of Central America,"
said LAPT President Glenn Cademartori. "We are absolutely thrilled to be
back here in Costa Rica, which has been a cornerstone for poker for many years.
We have very high expectations for the growth of the LAPT throughout the remainder
of the 2008-09 season."
-- Cademartori also stated: "With so many major poker tournaments going
on around the globe, we are proud that the LAPT-Costa Rica championship attracted
players from 33 different countries. Few poker tournaments anywhere attract
as diverse a field of nationalities than LAPT events."
-- Early on Day One, Maria Mayrinck from Rio de Janiero, Brazil was dealt the
tournament's first royal flush. According to the odds, the supreme poker hand
happens only about one time in every 34,421 hands.
-- Defending LAPT Season 1 (Costa Rica) champion Valdemar Kwaysser played in
this year's tournament, but was eliminated on Day One.
-- Other former major poker tournament champions who participated in the Costa
Rica championship included Eddie Sabat, winner of the 2008 Asia Pacific Poker
Tour championship held in Macau. He was eliminated on Day One.
-- Former World Series of Poker gold bracelet winners who played in the LAPT-Costa
Rica championship included -- Dr. Max Stern, Maria Stern, Humberto Brenes, and
Alexandre Gomes. Mr. and Mrs. Stern were the only Day One survivors.
-- Team PokerStars players who entered the tournament included Alexandre Gomes
(Brazil), Andre Akkari (Brazil), Humberto Brenes (Costa Rica), and Victor Ramdin
(USA).
-- Ninety-five of the 219 participants qualified to play in this tournament
via PokerStars.
-- Brazilian race car driver Gualter Salles played in this tournament but was
eliminated on the first day.
-- In what may be a poker first, a real former "First Lady" played
in the LAPT-Costa Rica championship. Doris Yankelwitz won her seat into the
tournament via a single-table satellite played on the previous night at the
host casino. She was eliminated about midway through Day One. She is the former
wife of ex-Costa Rican President Luis Alberto Monge, who served as head of state
from 1982 to 1986.
-- Players started the tournament with 10,000 in chips. Levels were one hour
long.
-- The host casino was the Herradura Ramada Plaza in San Jose. "Herradura"
means "horseshoe" in Spanish. The casino and hotel is located about
20 minutes away from Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO).
-- The long awaited television broadcast from LAPT Season 1 is now airing internationally
on Fox Sports throughout Latin America. Coincidentally, the LAPT finale from
Season 1 was shown at 1 am the night before this tournament started, here in
Costa Rica.
-- There will be five more LAPT tournaments this season. Tour stops include
Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. The next tournament takes place
in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico at the Marival Resort from Dec. 5-7. The buy win will
be $2,500 (+200). The event will be capped at 500 entrants. This will be the
first major poker tournament ever held in Mexico.
-- For more information about the Latin American Poker Tour, visit: http://www.lapt.com/ | 
