On the first few days of this event, we relied heavily on our Latin American colleagues to point out the who's who of LAPT regulars (this is my first time covering an LAPT, and the same goes for my colleague Will, and we couldn't be happier to be here). So, to Carlos, Reinaldo, and Sergio, we say thank you. We couldn't have done this reporting without you.

Even back on those Day 1s, though, there were still a few faces we did recognise. Whether they'd won big titles on the LAPT, or had big wins and deep runs in well-known events elsewhere, some of the players were so talented that their reputation preceded them. Bruno Politano was still here for one; as was Richard Dubini and Fabian Chauriye - players we've been following the entire way.

What were the chances, then, that out of the 565 players who entered this event, we'd end up with such a stacked final table of nine right at the end of it? Pretty slim, I'd say. We could only take eight through with us to the official final table tomorrow though, so we had to lose one. And that one was arguably the biggest name of them all.

So, who are our talented final eight? Who did we lose today? And just how long did it take to divide our Day 3 starting field of 32 by four? Let me tell you.

First off, we can tell you that Brazil's aptly-named Rodrigo Strong will be our final table chip leader tomorrow with 2,482,000. He had a surge near the start of the day and shot up into the millions quickly. It was all smooth sailing after that.

The bad news? We lost Brazil's former November Niner Bruno Politano right at the end of the day in 9th ($12,460). The man known as Foster has played exceptionally throughout this tournament, but his fate was down to the Poker Gods after he moved all-in for 720,000 with [ah][kc] and was called by Argentina's Richard Dubini who held [qc][qd]. It ran out [th][4c][jc][js][9h] and we lost Politano from LAPT9 Chile.

Let's rewind to the start of the day. 32 players returned and it was Ricardo Matamala (above, left) who led them all. He had a pretty steady day and never really got into any chip trouble, and will therefore return tomorrow short-stacked with 452,000.

But we lost plenty of other former chip leaders throughout play today, including two-time LAPT champ Fabian Ortiz (26th - $4,500), Fancisco 'Tomate' Benitez (16th - $6,700), and Manuel Urrejola (15th - $7,600). Ortiz lost a race with pocket sevens against A-K and it just didn't fall his way. He'll have to wait until LAPT9 Panama in May to win that third title.

The action was thick and fast between then and the final nine though - we lost players at a rapid pace. Those who left included Javier Venegas (14th - $7,600), Alejandro Rodriguez (13th - $8,7000), and Alfredo Torres (10th - $10,240).

That left us with nine. We had the aforementioned Bruno Politano, Rodrigo Strong, Fabian Chauriye, Richard Dubini, and Ricardo Matamala, as well as Aqviles Espinoza, Alex Vega, Roberly Ferico, and bringing up the rear was short-stack Carlos Pohmasevic. He entered the final table with just a few big blinds, but managed to cling on and end the day with 408,000 - just ten big blinds.

Richard Dubini and Fabian Chauriye are worth mentioning here; like we said at the beginning of this wrap, we've been following their play from the get-go. That's because Dubini is an online beast with almost $800,000 in live earnings, while Chauriye came 16th in the PCA Main Event in January.

After Politano busted, here's how they stack up for tomorrow's final table, which will begin at 12pm.

It's going to be a great finish to LAPT9 Chile, with all the players now guaranteed a min-payout of $15,780. So make sure you come back and join us tomorrow for all the live updates and more. In the meantime, you can go back and read all the Day 3 live updates here.

For now, this is the PokerStars Blog team signing off. Vamos!

All photos by Carlos Monti.