It seems that nothing has been resolved in the suspension of the Latin American Poker Tour stop in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. The LAPT itself nor PokerStars, the official sponsor of the tournament, have been able to put together a statement yet, as they are likely still trying to determine what can be done to save this situation…if anything.
Not only were there 89 players left in the tournament, including poker blogger turned poker pro Maria \”Maridu\” Mayrinck, but members of various media outlets were forced to leave the tournament area quickly as well. As Kevin mentioned, Dr. Pauly is there for PokerNews, but among the others are Owen for PokerListings and Otis and Change100 for PokerStars. Most of them aren\’t writing anything about what happened yet and likely won\’t until they\’re out of the country.
F-Train, a field tournament reporter not on this trip, wrote a little ditty about it, posing the obvious \”what to do\” questions:
The tournament was stopped late on Day 1. 89 players remained when federal cops shut everything down. Not only did they shut everything down, but the entire room was cleared — players, media, dealers and all tournament staff. There is no way to confirm who was sitting where, or what any individual player\’s chip count was at the time of the shutdown.
Pretend you\’re LAPT President Glenn Cademartori or LAPT Tournament Director Mike Ward. Assume that play will not be able to resume as scheduled tomorrow. What would you do with the prize pool? How would you resolve this situation?
Still awaiting a statement or word that everyone is safely on planes, trains, or automobiles outta there.
