The Latin American Poker Tour

The Latin American Poker Tour is the newest in a series of market-opening tours popping up all over the world. Vega Promotional Systems Inc., a British company, is the force behind the tour, which is actually a join venture with that poker tour-crazed poker site PokerStars.com. Soon to launch a new set of gaming software for use both on their own site and sold to other online gaming sites, and with the oddly-named All In Energy Drink to promote, it is possible that Vega is seeking to bolster their potentially dangerous new investments with a relatively stable one: a poker tour in the as-yet-untapped Latin American market. A new poker tour sponsored by a company best known for a poker-themed energy drink? You betcha. PokerStars.com has had success with their European Poker Tour, not to mention the young but prospering Asia Pacific Poker Tour, and no doubt both of these companies will benefit from this venture.

Latin American Poker Tour History

The first ever Latin American Poker Tour, or LAPT, launched in 2008 and either has stopped or will stop in eight countries in Latin America. This will be the first series of poker tournaments to focus specifically on the region, though players from the region have made names for themselves in other parts of the world: Andre Akkari and Humberto Brenes from Costa Rica for instance.

No one is bigger in Costa Rica than poker pro Humberto Brenes. To quote Gary Wise of the ESPN Poker Club:

"In the wake of Humberto's shark-aided exploits at the tables, people tend to forget that he is one of the true powerhouses in tournament poker history. With 49 cashes, 25 final tables and two WSOP bracelets to go with three WPT final tables, Brenes has put together a remarkable run of consistency over the last twenty years. Now, playing unofficial host to his hometown's first major event, he looks on with the pride of a father. It was in 1987 when Brenes first made his way to Las Vegas with two other godfathers of Latin American poker, Jose Rosencrantz and Max Stern. "We thought we knew so much," Stern remembers, an infectious smile on his face. "We heard about the World Series and said, 'Let's go take the tourists' money.'"

This overt and brash kind of statement is the stuff that audiences love -- and Vega Promotional Systems intends on cashing this cow in quick, offering video and replays of their tournaments to broadcast networks all over the world. Time will tell how that venture works out.

LAPT Countries

The countries to be included in the LAPT are Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica. The season will culminate in a Tournament of Champions that will result in one player being named the top player in all of Latin America. While tours like the Asia Pacific visit a limited number of sites and then hold repeat tournaments in those places, the LAPT is holding events all over Latin America -- the sheer number of tournament sites for this tour is highly encouraging.

LAPT San Jose

The LAPT event in San Jose featured 398 poker players from 35 countries to Costa Rica. That nation is home to more online gambling establishments than any other in the world, ironicaly enough. All entrants to the tournament put up their $2,500 buy-in, either by virtue of cash, or -- in 175 cases-- online qualification through the PokerStars Web site, which has offices in Costa Rica itself. This is just about a 50-50 ratio of buy-ins to win-ins. This could account for the high performance of PokerStars qualifiers, in that there's just so darn many of them.

So far, two events in the LAPT have completed, as well as one "second chance" event held after the tournament in San Jose. Top finishers have included some familiar names (the aforementioned Brenes, the UK's Natasha Ellis) but so far the winners and the majority of the top ten finishers are either PokerStars qualifying amateurs or relative unknowns from abroad. Competition, it would seem, is fierce.

Poker Stars Latin American Poker Tour

PokerStars.com's Latin American Poker tour website states that each tournament will be structured as invitational events, though players from anywhere in the world will have opportunities to qualify for seats online and through local satellite tournaments. Currently, there are players from the UK, Switzerland, many more countries in Europe, America, and just about every country in Latin America.

Through a press release, the CEO of Vega Michael Herron had this to say about the LAPT: "This is a very exciting announcement. No limit Texas hold'em has really taken off in Latin America and we felt the time was right for this type of tour. We've all seen the success that other tours like the World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour have enjoyed and we feel that by utilizing our existing contacts in Latin America, we can produce a first class tournament that players from all over the world, not just from Latin America, will want to participate in."

LAPT Rio Prize - LAPT San Jose

The first LAPT tournament, in Rio, offered a prize pool of just over $780,000 American -- nothing to sniff at, but also nothing compared to other poker tours offering millions of dollars in prize pools. This is probably due to the tour's youth, or perhaps it points out one of the sponsoring companies lack of faith -- since PokerStars has seen an incredible amount of business and buzz from their other poker tours around the world, one can only imagine that Vega Inc. is a little nervous. Having said all of that, I would switch places with any of the top ten finishers in any of these tournaments in a heartbeat. Top prize in the San Jose LAPT tournament did grow to $275,000 American (up from Rio's $200,000) so there is some hope that the prize pools will grow over time.

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