Weider Gutierrez returns to Medellin – the scene of his worse poker heartbreak – and heals that heart with victory in the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) for $86,918.
It’s June, and so it’s difficult to think about playing cards outside of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), but the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) just held it’s Colombian leg of it’s series, in Medellin, and it attracted a healthy field of 629-players.
The final table was well represented by the tours sponsors, PokerStars, as both Christian de Leon and Juan Manuel Pastor made a final table that was made even more attractive by the presence of the 2011World Poker Tour (WPT) Bratislava runner-up, Mayu Roca, and last years fourth place finisher Weider Gutierrez.
Gutierrez still had last years event ringing in his ears as he lost a crucial all-in against the Spaniard Raul Paez that would have handed him a dominant chip lead with just four-players remaining. Just three-outs separated Gutierrez from a wonderful opportunity to grab his first major title success, but Paez found the river he needed and Gutierrez drowned finishing fourth out of four.
But Gutierrez was back and you sensed that he was going to make up for lost time. The difficult pairing of Pastor (8th) and Rocu (7th) were the first players to leave the competition, and after Christian ‘El Grillo’ de Leon was eliminated in (4th) the final three players: Miguel Velasco ($76,397), Miguel Moscoso ($81,657) and Gutierrez ($86,918) cut a deal to take some of the heat out of the situation.
Moscoso was the first to go after missing his flush draw against the aces of Velasco and that elimination gave Moscoso a 2.5 to 1 chip advantage as the heads-up duel commenced. The lead changed hands after pocket eights hammered pocket fours, before Gutierrez found retribution from last years misfortune after the pair got it in on a board of [7d] [6h] [2c] [5s], with Gutierrez holding the nine-high straight and Moscoso holding the six-high straight.
