Presently it's clear and sunny over the beaches of Mar del Plata, but should clouds move in we know one man who has come prepared for a sudden downpour. Meet PokerStars online qualifier Zach Hall, a young American who traveled over 6,500 miles from his New Hampshire home to play in the LAPT Grand Final.

Hall bought in into this event with W$ and is currently sitting with a healthy stack of 13,000. Though his shrewd satellite play translated into an entry into the LAPT Grand Final, we're a bit divided on the merits of his choice in headwear. Attention-getting? Absolutely. A fashion statement? Not so much.

In the first level of play, the forecast was looking grim for several of Team PokerStars Pro's finest. Joe Hachem was on shaky ground before the first break, but recently earned a double up when his pocket jacks held against ace-king.

After that disastrous first hand that sent his stack plummeting from 10,000 to 1,100, Leo Fernandez is still miraculously hanging on, having tripled up to 3,400. The always-aggressive Andre Akkari saw his stack slip to 3,500 by the end of the second level, but he's scratched and clawed his way up to a well-above average stack. Just moments ago, Akkari made quads, severely denting the stack of David Flusfeder to take him up to 22,000.

136 players still remain of our Day 1B starting field of 151.