The first time I ever covered an LAPT event for the PokerStarsBlog was in San Jose, Costa Rica at the beginning of Season 2. What astounded me at the time was just how (for lack of a better word) crazy the players and the rail could get on the LAPT....more

Ever seen the crowd dictate the terms of a deal at a big buy-in poker tournament? I just did. After a rash of eliminations in the first two hours of the day, play slowed down considerably for the next two. With not much change in the chip counts between Daniele...more

Daniele Nestola is up on his knees in his chair. He looks like a bearded version of a Labrador puppy at meal time. He's happy, and if he had a tail, he'd be wagging it right now. Let this image stand in stark contrast to Nestola's attitude 20 minutes ago....more

When the LAPT first visited this amazing city at the beginning of this season, the event happened in the same room of the same hotel. When the first event of Season 4 reached the final table in Sao Paulo, half of them called Brazil home. This year? Things look a...more

Daniel Negreanu, a man who plays $100,000 tournaments for fun and profit, entered this $2,300 LAPT Grand Final main event and found himself caring about the outcome. He could be out partying it up 24 hours a day for Carnival, but instead he set about the process of winning this...more

Caio Pimenta has a single word tattooed along the length of the top of his left arm, in scripted letters a few inches high: Believe. I tapped him on the shoulder in between hands at the feature table and asked him why he chose that particular tattoo. "Believe the dream,"...more

A better writer than me would figure out what the link is between peppers and turtles, as both played prominently in Day 2 of the LAPT Season 4 Grand Final. They're both green is the best that I could do. That doesn't really lend itself very well to a description...more

Day 2 has put me in the awkward position of admitting something about the nature of covering poker tournaments: by and large, we reporter types hate dinner breaks. We understand they are probably necessary, and we grok the whole idea of "people needing sustenance to survive." But, really, dinner breaks...more

I read an AP article this morning about a blog called, "Little Leopard, Where Are You?" that tries to re-unite Carnival couples. Apparently lots of random street-kissing goes on during Carnival. Sometimes those who lock lips get separated from each other in the press of humanity that takes to the...more

Imagine sitting in one of the world's largest cities. Twenty million people are packed in the streets around you celebrating the biggest weekend of their year. It's the excitement of Mardi Gras, the World Cup Finals, and New Year's Eve all packed into one and injected with steroids. That's where...more

Five stops on Season 4 of the LAPT in five different countries produced five Main Event champions of five different nationalities. When converted to old-fashioned greenbacks, each man cleared at least five figures in his win. All five were invited to Sao Paulo to take part in the Grand Final,...more

Daniel Negreanu has a secret. That's right. The man with no secrets has a secret. And he may not be the only member of Team PokerStars Pro trying to hide something tonight. Negreanu, the man who famously (or infamously) shares a majority of his life and true feelings about everything,...more