The World Poker Tour is in Argentina at Casino Iguazú for Brasil Poker Live Presents: WPT Argentina. On Wednesday, the $1,500 Main Event kicked off, attracting 77 entries to the felt. When the day was all said and done, Martin Manrique (pictured above) bagged the chip lead.
According to HendonMob.com, Manrique is a player with a little more than $9,000 in live tournament earnings. The largest cash of his career is for $4,623 and Manrique will have a good opportunity to set a new career high with a deep run in the WPT Argentina Main Event. Manrique bagged a towering stack with 205,700.
Closest to Manrique on the leaderboard was Martín Piñeiro with 133,400. Only three others finished Day 1a over the century mark, with Vanderlei Esquarcini on 122,400, Bruno Foster with 108,500, and Julio Cesar Acosta on 102,900.
Damian Salas (pictured below), a representative of Aconcagua Poker, the parent network of Brasil Poker Live, also had a successful Day 1a. According to CodigoPoker, in one pot towards the end of the day’s play, Salas opened with a raise to 2,500 from the hijack seat at blinds of 600-1,200 with a 200 ante. Sebastian Gomez, from the cutoff position, reraised to 7,300. Play folded back to Salas and he made it 17,600 to go. Gomez felt that was enough and folded, giving Salas the pot. Salas finished on 79,800.
A few players eliminated on Day 1a included Fernando Araujo, Alan Mehamed, Pablo Chacra, and Gustavo Soler.
All told, 36 players from the 77 entries advanced to Day 2.
Thursday, March 15, will be a very big day for the WPT Argentina Main Event. Day 1b will take place starting at 2 p.m. local time from Casino Iguazú. Then at 8 p.m., a special Day 1c will be played in a turbo format, allowing players one last opportunity to chase the glory that comes with winning the WPT Argentina Main Event in the tour’s first trip to the country.
For full event information, check out the event hub right here on WPT.com. For coverage of the event, head over to CodigoPoker.com.
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