The dust is still settling after the fiasco that was the PokerStars LAPT Nueveo Vallarta, and apparently some would like to pretend it never happened.
To recap, at about 10:30 p.m. CT Friday evening, day 1 of the second event of the LAPT’s second season, play was suspended with 89 of the original 242 entrants still in the running when tournament director Mike Ward put a halt to the action. The tournament room was cleared and the players were left wondering what was going on until around midnight, when they were told to come back on noon on Saturday for an update. The players returned the next day at the appointed time and were told that the problem was still being worked on. Finally, several hours later, the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) announced that the tournament was canceled, “due to an indefinite suspension served on one of its local partners,” by local gaming authorities.
The 89 remaining players were each paid $5000 out of the prize pool, with the remainder of the pool divided up between the players by chip count. PokerStars also paid the players $500 each. Thanks for coming out.
Now, leaving aside the issue of what many players think was a really bad chop (shortstacks got compensated handsomely while above average stacks got hosed), you’d think there would be some official follow-up from the LAPT or PokerStars to explain what happened.
Instead, the main link to LAPT Nuevo Vallarta News has magically disappeared from the LAPT links on PokerStars’ blog site (see for yourself here at PokerStar’s blog) and there is nothing posted on the LAPT site beyond the original cancellation announcement. There is some saving grace though, as you can still access the PokerStars blog posts that were made before the tourney was canceled through the link that’s still up on the LAPT site (http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/lapt/season-2-1/), not that that will tell you anything more about why the tournament ended so disastrously.
Looks like some people are still wiping the egg off their faces and just wish PokerStars LAPT Nuevo Vallarta would go away.