The 2020 WPT LA Poker Classic at Commerce Casino on the outskirts of Los Angeles attracted 490 runners this year. With six to go, Balakrishna Patur heads into the final table with the chip lead. The final six also includes Matas Cimbolas, James Carroll, Ka Kwan Lau, Scott Hempel, and Upeshka De Silva. The final table resumes on April 2 at the HyperX eSports Arena in Las Vegas. First place pays out $1,015,000 plus a freeroll into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.
Season 18 of the World Poker Tour continues. The LA Poker Classic has been one of the oldest running WPT events since the inception of the tour. Poker has always been woven into the fabric of the SoCal gambling scene. Boom or bust, it don't matter because there will always be card players ready to gamble it up in Los Angeles. Especially at the luxurious and maddening Commerce Casino on the fringe of Los Angeles. Come on down to Commerce, but avoid rush hour otherwise you'll head to the tables on mega-traffic tilt.
But enough of the bad traffic jokes and LA. There's some serious poker going down at the Commerce with a seven-figure score at stake. The latest stop on the World Poker Tour included the LA Poker Classic Main Event. This one has a $10K buy-in, as it should be, for a World Poker Tour affair.
Last year's champ, ODB David Baker, outlasted a field of 546 runners to win the 2019 WPT LAPC. Previous winners at the WPT LAPC included.... Gus Hansen, The Grinder, Antonio Esfandiari, Alan Goehring, Phil Ivey, Chris Moorman, Anthony Zinno, Dietrich Fast, and Daniel Strelitz. Some of the best of the best took down the LAPC.
The 2020 LA Poker Classic Main Event drew in 490 entrants who boosted the prize pool to $4,727,550 with a cool million set aside to the champion.
The final table banks some serious money at the LA Poker Classic. The top five lock up nearly a quarter million with $600K set aside to the runner-up. Not too shabby, eh?
Shi Chen bubbled the final table in seventh place and Dan Strelitz hit the bricks in eighth place. He missed out on winning the WPT LAPC for a second time. He shipped it back in 2017.
The 2020 WPT LAPC Main Event final table of six included Balakrishna Patur, Matas Cimbolas, James Carroll, Ka Kwan Lau, Scott Hempel, and Upeshka De Silva.
Balakrishna Patur bagged up the lead with 6.3 million. Matas Cimbolas and James Carroll were jockeying for second with 4 million or so. Upeshka De Silva heads into the delayed finale with the short stack and the only one under 1M.
The final table will be delayed and played out in Las Vegas at the special HyperX eSports Arena (located at the Luxor Casino). The final table spot is swanky, but the final six have to wait a month before they can determine who wins the cool million for first place. The WPT LAPC winner also earns a free roll into the Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas. That's valued at $15,000.
Notables who went deep and cashed at the 2020 WPT LAPC Main Event included... Dan Strelitz, Chasrles Kassin, Kevin Eyster, Ike Baron, Dylan Linde, Matt Gianetti, Yen Dang, Tuan Phan, Gal Yifrach, Blair Hinkle, JC Tran, Steve Forman, Demo Kiriopoulos, Johnny World Hennigan, Brent Hart, Danny Wong, Donald Maloney, Ali Imsirovic, Lee Markholt, Chance Kornuth, Denys Shafikov, Steve Sung, Adam Swan, Bryan Piccoli, Sean Yu, Toby Lewis, Garrett Greer, Arman Tyfekchyan, Justin Liberto, Jesse Sylvia, Barry Greenstein, and Maury Solano.
See y'all in a month.
2020 WPT LAPC Final Table
Buy-in: $10,000
Entrants: 490
Prize Pool: $4,727,550
Payouts: 62
Final Table Payouts:
1. $1,015,000
2. $600,060
3. $431,585
4. $323,485
5. $243,330
6. $185,330
1. Balakrishna Patur (USA) 6,320,000
2. Matas Cimbolas (Lithuania) 4,310,000
3. James Carroll (USA) 4,125,000
4. Ka Kwan Lau (Spain) 2,250,000
5. Scott Hempel (USA) 1,670,000
6. Upeshka De Silva (USA) 930,000
