* CLICK TO REFRESH FOR LATEST UPDATES
* SELECTED DAY 2 CHIP COUNTS | PRIZE POOL AND PAYOUTS

* Day 2 will play down to 32 players (or as announced)
* 172 players of 553 entries remain
* Top 79 finishers make the money

10:55am: Maxence Debar leads charge into Day 2

Buenos días again, everyone, from warm and sunny Panama City where just over an hour from now Day 2 of the Latin American Poker Tour Panama Main Event will be getting underway.

From a 553-entry field just 172 players remain, all vying to reach the top 79 spots and the cash, with the $138,225 first prize up top providing still further motivation to make a deep run to Monday's final table.

Best positioned to begin today will be Maxence Debar who built a huge stack of 289,900 by the end of his Day 1 flight.

Debar's nearest challengers to start Day 2 will be Rafael Escobedo (215,500), Nicolas Baliner (184,900), Jessica Perez (178,900, and Luis Cruz (177,700). 

Meanwhile Hunter Cichy (123,500), LAPT8 Peru champion Claudio Moya (122,200), Raul Pino (116,200), Gustavo Lopes (100,200), and Aaron Mermelstein (89,700) all return to above average stacks, while two-time LAPT champions Oscar Alache (88,200), Mario Lopez (81,400), and Nacho Barbero (52,600) remain in contention, as does the lone Team PokerStars Pro in the field, Leo Fernandez (24,900).

Click here for a look at a complete rundown of all 172 players' chip counts to start Day 2.

We'll be back at 12 noon Central time when the first hands of Day 2 are dealt, and carry you all of the way through the bubble bursting and down to 32 players (so goes the plan, anyway) with live updates, photos, chip counts, and more. Hasta entonces! --MH

PokerStars Blog Reporting Team at LAPT9 Chile: Will O'Connor and Martin Harris. Photos by Carlos Monti. Follow the PokerStars Blog on Twitter: @PokerStarsBlog