LAPT8 Peru: Moya mows down Martinez, leads final four

Not long after his countryman Helio Neves, was ousted in sixth, Brazil’s Marcus Martinez followed him to the rail in fifth ($45,540) following an unsuccessful confrontation with chip leader Claudio Moya.

Marcus Martinez – 5th placeWith the blinds 12,000/24,000 and a 3,000 ante, the hand began with a Moya raise to 55,000 from under the gun, and when it folded to Martinez in the small blind he three-bet to 135,000. Moya called, and the pair watched the flop come J♦8♥7♥.

Martinez led for 200,000 at the sight of those three cards, and without too much delay Moya called. The turn then brought the A♠, and again Martinez was firing, this time for 300,000, a bet that left just about 360,000 behind.

Moya paused a moment, then announced he was all in and Martinez called. The cards went on their backs…

Moya: A♦Q♠
Martinez: A♣9♦

Both had turned the biggest pair there is, but Moya’s kicker was poised to boot Martinez off the final table. The 8♣ then fell on fifth street, and Martinez was eliminated.

Moya now has about 3.3 million, having extended his chip lead with that big pot and starting to edge closer toward having half of the chips in play with about 15 minutes to go in Level 24.

Claudio MoyaPhotography from LAPT8 Peru by Carlos Monti. You can also follow the action in Spanish here and in Portuguese here.

Martin Harris is Freelance Contributor to the PokerStars Blog.