Carter Gill Wins Latin Series of Poker Millions

Latin America has been good to Carter Gill, and during the early evening hours of Mar. 15 things got even better. The American pro won the inaugural Latin Series of Poker Millions main event for $175,070, marking his fifth straight final table and second career title in the region.

“I don’t how that’s possible but it’s literally my fifth straight final table. I won Uruguay (LAPT), I got sixth in a high roller in Colombia and a second in another tournament in Colombia and a fourth in the LAPT Panama,” Gill said.

As play progressed for the day, it appeared that Gill could just not be stopped.

“Unless I think about a little online tournament, I’ve never had a such a situation where I’ve literally steam-rolled the table,” he said. “I could do no wrong. It was odd, but with the hands I was getting it would have been hard not to win. I was joking to someone that if you gave the cards that I had to anyone at the final table they would have won also."

The final hand came down to Gill and Israel’s Alon Raz after a very short heads-up match. Raz, with a massive chip deficit, moved all-in for his tournament life with A7 and Gill called with AK. Raz’s hand never improved and he finished the tournament runner-up to the tune of $100,600.

Before he could claim the title and the prize money, Gill had to maneuver his way through a field of 1,290 players and final table featuring Team PokerStars pro Jose “Nacho” Barbero and online pros Guillermo Echevvaria and Francis Cruz.

Echevvaria was the first to go. Adam Reynolds raised to 105,000 from middle position and Echevvaria moved all-in from the small blind. Reynolds had him slightly covered and called with A10. Echevvaria tabled A9 and the board ran out K8725 to eliminate the Peruvian pro as the ninth place finisher for $16,490.

Following Echevvaria was Oscar Ortiz. Leonardo Tarazona raised to 120,000 from the hijack and Ortiz shoved-all in for 900,000 from the big blind with A7. Tarazona called with AK and stayed ahead on a K10724 board to make Ortiz the eighth place finisher for $20,370.

Reynolds was next to go and his exit signaled the beginning of Gill’s domination of the final table. Gill raised to 120,000 from under the gun +1 and Reynolds three-bet to 280,000 from the hijack seat. Gill four-bet to 500,000, Reynolds moved all-in and Gill snap-called. Gill showed pocket Aces to Reynolds pocket Queens and Reynolds never improved on a board of 653J9 to leave as the seventh place finisher for $26,190.

After nursing a short stack for much of the final table, Cruz was eliminated in an unmerciful way. Cruz moved all-in for 895,000 from under the gun +1 and Gill called from the cutoff. Cruz showed 66 and needed to dodge the two over cards – AQ – of Gill. After a flop of 987 Cruz still had to fade a big draw but looked pretty safe after the 8 fell on the turn. Everything went downhill for the Dominican pro when the Q opened on the river.

Cruz shook hands with his somewhat astonished tablemates and made his exit as the sixth place finisher for $33,950.

“He had half the deck as outs,” Barbero said as Cruz left the table.

Barbero was eliminated as the fifth place finisher for $43,625 when he got into a pot with Leonardo Tarazona. Barbero moved all-in with J10 from under the gun and Tarazona called with K8. Barbero never hit the needed cards on a A3286 board and made his exit.

Tarazona was next to go as the fourth place finisher for $57,250 when he ran his Ace-five into the pocket eights of Raz and failed to catch any needed outs on the board.

Two hands later, Maziar Keshavarzi was all-in with A9 and Gill called with AQ. Keshavarzi never improved and left as the third place finisher for $75,675.

Final Table Results