In yesterday's Day 1B recap, Jack Stanton mentioned Oscar-nominated film The Revenant, by which Leonardo DiCaprio's character is left for dead after which comes back from the dead to get revenge. We do not wish to completely piggy backpedal of that post but getting back from the dead was a recurring theme throughout today's Day 2 session.

24 hours ago it was players that busted out of the primary starting flight and located the bag within the second. But tonight, it was players that hardly bagged over a starting stack that then went directly to lead this LAPT9 Chile Main Event into it's penultimate day.

Ricardo Andrew Matamala leads into Day 3

Chip leader Ricardo Andres Matamala was kind of overshadowed by bigger names over the past few levels. The Chilean will overshadow everyone overnight though; he won a big pot on the death, flopping a suite and getting three streets of value, to shoot to the highest of the leaderboard. He'll return with 811,000, an almost ten-times improvement from his Day 2 starting stack.

There isn't much of a separation on the top of the leaderboard though, as Matamala could have two players hot on his tail tomorrow. Alex Vega put 719,000 within the bag and Jorge Luis Teodoulou will return with just over 740,000. They round out the highest three and can all return trying to make the most important tournament scores in their career.

The biggest of these dead gainers was Richard Dubini, because the Argentine came back for today's restart with just over 27,000. After his starting table broke, he was moved to 1 of the tougher tables within the room and while his stack yo-yo'd in the course of the first few levels, after dinner it stayed in a gentle upward trend.

Richard Dubini came back from the dead during Day 2

He finished the night with 634,000 and while that provides him a top-five stack for tomorrow's Day 3 session, the headlining act of today was Fabian Ortiz. The two-time LAPT champion, who won his first title here in Vina del Mar in 2009, came back for Day 2 with just over two starting stacks. After the dinner break, Ortiz could have been outdone by his countryman at the end of day scoreboard but he'll attempt to have Chilean lightning strike twice tomorrow. Ortiz will return in a good position to make his fifth career LAPT final table and, perhaps, even claim a record breaking third title. It won't be easy for him though, because the remaining field is filled with some very experienced and competent players, working a variety of chip stacks.

Bruno Politano leads the Brazilian charge

Bruno Politano is a type of players, with final table experience on poker's biggest stage. The 2014 'November Niner' wasn't exactly a dead man walking entering Day 2, as he returned with a workable 70,000 and after an overly steady session, he'll return for Day 3 with 646,000. That leads a powerful Brazilian contingent, one who includes Rodrigo Strong, pun intended, and Roberly Fericio. Each of these players controlled the chip lead sooner or later today and can certainly contend tomorrow.

Alejandro Rodriguez fits either one of the above criteria. He's another player that would has been considered dead after a lower than newsworthy Day 1B flight left him with just below 30,000. But he has the past experience to contend regardless of where he's at the leaderboard. He worked that short stack for a couple of levels today but then played one of the vital more odd hands we saw, doing a majority of his damage bluffing with complete air in some sizable pre-dinner pots. Eliminated player Felipe Baraky might get up seeing a few of those five-high, 0% equity holdings in his sleep but Rodriguez perceived to click the suitable buttons all day long, ending the night with 426,000.

Alex Vega finished with a top-three stack

Some big-name players made the money but weren't in a position to finish, as Andrius Bielskis and Eder Murata bowed out in 53rd and 54th, respectively, in addition to Bruno Kuwaiti in 71st. They were capable of lock up LAPT cashes but one of the crucial bigger names couldn't. Mario Lopez, our other two-time winner, hit the rail midway through Level 14. Russia's Irina Petrova did not last that long and Chile's own Daniela Horno also didn't make the money. Within the end, 79 players cashed and 32 of them bagged up for tomorrow's Day 3 restart, where they'll all be looking towards the highest of the payout structure as they're still alive for a major score and an LAPT victory.

Tomorrow's Day 3 session will play all the way down to a last table of eight and the PokerStars blog could be here to follow the entire action, starting at 12pm. Until then, make amends for the entire Day 2 action you might have missed here and reference the exceptional LAPT9 Chile Main Event payouts at the right hand side of the page. For a whole list of surviving players, the links at the right will lead you within the right direction.

It need to be noted that because we didn't get to 32 players until Level 20 was finished, tomorrow's restart will open with 60 minutes at the clock in Level 21.

Photos by Carlos Monti.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Latin American Poker Tour]