Mario Lopez skyrocketed to the top of the counts during bubble stage of the tournament.
After eliminating a few players, the medical doctor is now up to about 500,000, which is nearly the amount of chips the rest of his table has combined.
In one elimination, there was about 20,000 in the pot on a J♠6♥8♣2♠ board.
Camila Alvarez checked from the big blind and Lopez bet 12,600. Alvarez called and an A♣ came on the river.
Alvarez checked again and Lopez moved all-in.
Alvarez only had about 40,000 behind and thought until someone called the clock. With six seconds left on the clock, Alvarez threw in the rest of her chips for a call.
Lopez turned over 6♠6♣ for a set of sixes and Alvarez was out of the tournament.
Aside from putting Lopez up to about 380,000, the elimination left Renata Teixeira as the last woman in the field.
Lopez took down the following hand with a large bet on the river and then eliminated another player the hand after that.
Lopez raised to 6,200 from the cutoff and the big blind called.
The flop came 7♦9♥T♥ and the big blind check-raised all-in for 35,900 after Lopez bet 5,800. Lopez thought for a few seconds, called and turned over T♣4♦ for top pair. The big blind shook his head and showed K♠9♠ for second pair.
The turn brought an A♠ and the 7♥ came on the river to bring us closer to the bubble.
The hand put Lopez up to about 450,000 and by the time the bubble burst, the doctor had passed the 500,000 mark.
The bubble was far from arduous and burst on the first hand of hand-for-hand play.
One of our bubble bursters this event was Jorge Breda, who's smiling again now that he's back near the top of the counts with about 400,000.
Breda started the day second in chips, dipped early on but is now back in second place.
In the quick bubble, Juan Etcheverry raised to 8,500 and Breda re-raised to 20,000. Claudio Aranibar called all-in for 17,000 and the flop came K♣T♠2♦ after Etcheverry called.
Players checked and a 4♦ came on the turn. Breda bet 12,000 and Etcheverry folded.
Aranibar turned over A♣J♣ while Breda was in the lead with Q♠Q♦.
Aranibar was hoping for an ace or a queen, but the river brought a 6♥ instead.
Aranibar would've been the bubble, but someone else was eliminated seconds later in the same hand.
Nicolau Villa-lobos moved all-in for 42,500 on a 3♠6♦Q♠J♦K♥ board and Amos Ben called.
Villa-lobos turned over A♣7♠ for ace-high while Ben tabled Q♦9♦ for a pair of queens.
Villa-lobos and Aranibar split the 39th place payday of $5,360 and the remaining 38 players are now guaranteed at least that much apiece.
About half the level remains and when it's done, players will be on a 75-minute dinner break.
Photography from LAPT8 Uruguay by Carlos Monti. You can also follow the action in Spanish and in Portuguese.
Alexander Villegas is a freelance contributor to the PokerStars Blog.
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[Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Latin American Poker Tour]
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