2009 PokerStars.net LAPT Mar del Plata

$5,200 Mar del Plata Main Event
Day: 1b
1a1b23
Event Info

2009 PokerStars.net LAPT Mar del Plata

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k♠j♥
Prize
$381,030
Event Info
Buy-in
$5,000
Prize Pool
$1,411,350
Entries
291
Level Info
Level
21
Blinds
10,000 / 20,000
Ante
2,000

Chess > Backgammon > Poker

[user24788]
[user24788]
Leo relaxing earlier in the day
Leo relaxing earlier in the day
Team PokerStars Pro Leo Fernandez from Argentina began playing chess when he was five years old. By the age of 18, he became an International Chess Master. Looking for a change of pace, he turned his sights onto backgammon and quickly mastered that game. At one point he was ranked as one of the top 10 backgammon players in the world. It was inevitable that Leo would find himself playing poker. He quickly picked up the game and competed in tournaments all over the world.

The former chess and backgammon whiz has been a regular on the PokerStars.net LAPT. His most impressive feat included a 247th-place finish (out of 6,844 runners) at the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

In the opening level of Day 1b, Fernandez took a massive hit and lost over 90 percent of his stack. He welcomed the challenge and slowly built his 1,100 stack up to almost 7,000. Most players would have thrown away the rest of his stack, but he battled back to stay alive. He faded almost one-third of today's field with a shortest of short stacks.

Tags: Leo Fernandez