L.a. Poker Classic
Directed by Johnathan Reid. With Tony Dunst, Darren Elias, Lynn Gilmartin, Phil Hellmuth Jr. Poker Classic (known by the acronym LAPC) is a venerable stop on the circuit that will begin action on Saturday, bringing back a nostalgia for the way that tournament poker used to. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Fresh off of his win in the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic, Anthony Zinno goes for back-to-back victories and his third World Poker Tour title at the WPT L.A. He competes against Chris Klodnicki, Igor Yaroshevsky, Mike Leah, Peter Neff, and Peter Tran for the more than $1 million top prize.
PokerGO has been your live stream home for the last two seasons of World Poker Tour action and more final table coverage is coming next month. Starting March 11, the L.A. Poker Classic, Gardens Poker Championship, and Borgata Winter Poker Open will crown champions live from Luxor’s Hyper X Esports Arena.
In anticipation of all three final tables, which will stream live on PokerGO from March 11-13, Poker Central gets you caught up with the narratives of these events all week in the leadup to the big action in Las Vegas!
The L.A. Poker Classic World Poker Tour Main Event got underway on Saturday and a total of 546 players created a first prize of $1,015,000. A total of 69 players will get paid and here’s what the current Top 10 looks like.
| Name | Chips |
| Andrey Zaichenko | 949,500 |
| David Gonzalez | 860,500 |
| Brian Yoon | 646,500 |
| Ryan Hughes | 600,500 |
| Taylor Paur | 523,000 |
| Oddie Dardon | 391,000 |
| Darren Elias | 385,000 |
| Brock Wilson | 368,000 |
| Ajay Gnanasambanthan | 367,500 |
| Paul Kuzmich | 344,000 |
Other notables that are still in contention include Jake Schindler (328,500), James Carroll (321,000), Faraz Jaka (278,500), Mike Del Vecchio (256,500), Dan Shak (219,000), and Alex Lynskey (194,000). Players that were eliminated on Day 2 include Greg Mueller, Matt Waxman, Phil Hellmuth, Randall Emmett, Dylan Linde, Dylan Wilkerson, Anthony Zinno, and Jennifer Tilly.
Check out the full chip counts and payouts right here and follow the WPT Live Updates here as Day 3 is set to get underway at 12:00 pm PT. Exclusive PokerGO live streaming of this event is set to get underway on March 11th.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic Main Event is down to just eleven players going into Day 5 with Isaac Baron in the lead, holding 2.970 million chips. Wednesday could be a short day, as the field will be narrowed to six players.
The remaining field is extremely strong, with four past World Poker Tour champions still in contention. James Carroll, Daniel Strelitz, Mata Cimbolas, and Kevin Eyster have all won titles. Upeshka De Silva has also won a WPTDeepstacks championship.
While I expect Day 5 to be short because only five people need to be eliminated, it is entirely possible that the day could drag on. The top six players in the chip counts all have between 2 and 3 million chips, so it will be a competitive race. They might not want to tangle with each other
Of course, that means the bottom stacks could be in for a heck of a time and at least three of them could still do major damage to one of the larger stacks.
La Poker Classic Wpt
Baron was the tournament’s chip leader after Day 2, but as happens in large events, he fell back slightly going into Tuesday’s action. He was down to less than a million chips when he had two hands that vaulted him back up the leaderboard.
On the first hand, Matt Giannetti raised to 27,000 pre-flop and both Baron and Blair Hinkle called. On the flop of 5-J-7, it was checked to Baron, who bet 33,000. Hinkle made the call, but Giannetti folded. Both checked the 5 on the turn and 4 on the river. Both players paired their 7, but Baron had a better kicker, K vs. 7. That took Baron’s stack to about 1 million.
La Poker Classic Buy In
Right after that, Baron and Hinkle got into a pre-flop raising war, with Baron shoving for a bit south of 1 million chips and Hinkle calling for barely less. Both had A-K, but Baron’s was suited spades and wouldn’t you know it, he hit a runner-runner flush to eliminate Hinkle. Just like that, Baron’s stack was up to nearly 2 million.
Once the proceedings get down to six players, the tournament will be paused. Rather than returning tomorrow, the players will wait until April 2nd to play at the HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas. The top prize is $1 million. Everyone today is guaranteed at least $71,950, while the minimum payout at the final table is $185,330.
La Poker Classic 2019
2020 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic Main Event – Day 4 Chip Counts
- Isaac Baron – 2,970,000
- Scott Hempel – 2,725,000
- Balakrishna Patur – 2,480,000
- James Carroll – 2,370,000
- Daniel Strelitz – 2,280,000
- Upeshka De Silva – 2,250,000
- Matas Cimbolas – 1,405,000
- Shi Chen – 1,255,000
- Ka Kwan Lau – 985,000
- Kevin Eyster – 440,000
- Charles Kassin – 435,000