PokerStars Crowns Latin American Poker Tour Champion

ISLE OF MAN -- The PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour crowned its Mexican champion today as the final table was played out at the penultimate Season Two LAPT Punta del Este event. The winner,
  26 year old online qualifier Rory Cox from Lexington, Virginia, saw off a star studded final table that included team PS pro Victor Ramdin and the third LAPT final table finish for Alex Brenes, brother of Team PS Pro Humberto Brenes.

PokerStars had invited all remaining LAPT Mexico main event players to compete in an online freeroll tournament at PokerStars.net. Players started with the same number of chips they had when the original tournament was suspended back in December and the battle for the LAPT Nuevo Vallarta title played down to the final nine players online. These nine were then flown to the beautiful Mantra Resort & Casino in Punta Del Este, where the event has been played out on the LAPT TV table.

Though the original prize pool had already been distributed to the players, PokerStars added $50,000USD in prize money, alongside the prestigious LAPT title, for the players to compete for. The final table will be televised alongside the rest of the LAPT TV shows on ESPN later in the year.

PokerStars have also announced that they will be running a second online freeroll which will be open to any and all players who attended LAPT Nuevo Vallarta last December. The freeroll will take place on April 4-5 and the deadline for players to register will be April 2 at midnight EST. Any player who travelled to Mexico to play in the main event, the second chance tournament or any of the side events will be eligible* to play one of the freerolls. The top ten players will win a full package to the LAPT grand finals in Mar del Plata, Argentina, where first prize is estimated to be over $500,000USD.

"We know that many of our players travelled to Mexico to play the full schedule of events, not just the main event." says Sarne Lightman, Director of Marketing for PokerStars Latin America. "As these events were also cancelled we want to offer any players who attended LAPT Nuevo Vallarta a chance to qualify for what will be our biggest and most exciting LAPT yet."