Talk about making a name for yourself. Jose Miguel Espinar wanted to prove his poker prowess despite being a newbie in the community. Well, do that he just did. Espinar came out on top at the end of PokerStars.net Latin America Poker Tour Punte del Este championship. This may have proven that despite starting his poker career only in December 2007, Espinar’s previous cash at PokerStars’ Caribbean Adventure was not a fluke.

The LAPT Punte del Este, which kicked off last August 7, attracted a total of 351 players. It was a $2,500 buy-in tournament and the total prize pool exceeded $850,000. This meant that the Spaniard Espinar took home a very respectable $241,735. This guy only started in late 2007? This is the stuff poker dreams are made of.

Espinar was third in chips coming into the final table but he soon emerged on top after eliminating Paulo Cesar Ribeiro and Jose Perez in quick succession. Espinar’s luck seemed unbeatable early in the game when he hit quads to bust Ribeiro and dealt Perez with an ugly bad beat after his A-J won against Perez’s pocket aces.

When the dust settled, it was Espinar and Alex Brenes left standing with Espinar holding a slight chip advantage. Heads up play lasted for several hours with both players choosing to play cautious. Unfortunately for Brenes, he ended up crippled after a hand involving A-10 and A-9. In an effort to double up, Brenes pushed in desperation with an A-10 but it was Espinar’s day when he hit the flop hard with his K-3. Brenes had to be satisfied with 2nd place and $127,675.

Lisandro Gallo finished in 3rd place for $93,630 while Alexandre Gomes came in at fourth place for $68,100. Other poker notables who made ITM at the LAPT Punte del Este were Alex Brenes’ popular brother, Humberto Brenes, who cashed in at 20th place and Vanessa Rousso who displayed a strong showing by coming in 10th.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 3:48 pm and is filed under Online Poker, Poker Events, Poker Players, Poker Tournaments, Poker Winners, PokerStars. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.