One of the biggest events on the annual World Poker Tour schedule reached its final table this week. The group of six players remaining in the WPT L.A. Poker Classic went home.
They will not complete the tournament until they travel to Las Vegas on April 2 to do so under lights, in front of cameras, and on the stage of the HyperX Esports Arena.
The first WPT tournament of this year – of this season, actually – with a delayed final table was the WPT Gardens Poker Championship. In early January at Gardens Casino in Los Angeles, the field of 257 thinned to six final tablists, each guaranteed at least $111,795. They will reconvene at the Luxor in Las Vegas to compete for the $554,495 first-place prize and WPT title on March 31.
Then there was the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open that took place during the last week of January. What started with 1,290 entries worked its way down to just six finalists at the Borgata in Atlantic City. At that point, they left the casino with the knowledge that they secured at least $143,264 each, but they will head to the Luxor to play for the $674,840 top prize on April 1.
LAPC: Smaller but Still Mighty
The L.A. Poker Classic Main Event at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles is one of the highlights of the annual WPT schedule. Not only is it one of the few $10K buy-in events, but it is one of the longest running events in the tour’s 18-year history. On top of that, it was a freezeout tournament with no reentries.
Players gathered there on February 29 for the $10K WPT Main Event. In fact, there were 461 of those players who entered on Day 1. And when registration finally closed on Day 2, the final numbers were in. They were lower than the previous year but still solid:
Total entries: 490 (546 last year)Total prize pool: $4,727,550 ($5,169,270 last year)Paid players: 62Minimum payout: $16,905
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Day 1 finished with just 271 players remaining and Demo Kiriopoulos in the chip lead. Day 2 pulled the field together and brought the number down to just 104. Isaac Baron was that night’s chip leader.
Getting to the Money Part
Day 3 brought those 104 players back and saw many of them quickly depart the tournament area. On the money bubble, Claude Codru ousted Jordan Cristos in 63rd place. Barry Greenstein was then one of the first players to cash, and others who followed included Garrett Greer, Arden Cho, Jesse Sylvia, Toby Lewis, Steve Sung, Chance Kornuth, and Lee Markholt. That left 39 still in contention and Balakrishna Patur in the lead.
Ali Imsirovic was the first to leave on Day 4, taking home $24,375 for 39th place. Donald Maloney and Danny Wong followed, as did John Hennigan, Demo Kiriopoulos, JC Tran, Blair Hinkle, Matt Giannetti, and Dylan Linde. Eleven players survived, and Isaac Baron held the chip lead.
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Finding the Final Table
It didn’t take long for two of the shorter stacks to double through Baron. Ultimately, Baron had a tough start to the day and busted in 11th place via Scott Hempel. And it was Hempel again who busted Kevin Eyster in 10th place.
The final nine took their places at a single table, Daniel Strelitz eventually doubled through Hempel, but it was the latter who eliminated Charles Kassin in ninth place for $90,010. But Balakrishna Patur took a huge pot from Hempel, while Matas Cimbolas ousted Daniel Strelitz in eighth place for $113,425.
Ka Kwan Lau then doubled through Shi Chen, and Upeshka De Silva busted Chen in seventh place for $144,735.
Play then stopped with six players remaining. They were all guaranteed at least $185,330 but will head to their final table in Las Vegas on April 2 to compete for more than $1 million in first-place prize money.
The players will find these chip stacks waiting for them:
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