In a tournament series that began January 22 and is set to run through February 26-more than a month of poker-Glendale, California's Eugene "The Machine" Tito took a $300 buy-in and ran it into a pay day of $124,895. That's a 416 percent return on his investment, which is a pretty nice earn in these recessionary times.
Finishing second, and taking $64,858 back to Santa Ana, CA was Oscar Lopez Reyes, while Sara "Sodapop" Chau, from Dallas, TX, managed a fizzy and carbonated third place finish that was good for $34,745.
Last year's Los Angeles Poker Classic handed out $12,977,200 to those among the 10,000 players that were in the money over the nearly 30 events. This year's edition, with four $10,000 buy-in tournaments, has even more events-35 in all-beginning with $335 buy-ins and escalating up to the four $10,000 Championships.
Poker players can buy-in or win their way into individual events by entering satellite tournaments, and a complete schedule can be viewed on the Commerce Casino website, www.commercecasino.com. All tournaments begin at 1 p.m. unless otherwise stated on the schedule.
COMMERCE CASINO L.A. POKER CLASSIC
EVENT #8 1/29/09
LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 240
PRIZE POOL $69,840
1. Tyson Marks . . . . . . $20,259
2. John Claycomb . . . . $11,105
3. Sy Sundell . . . . . . . . . $7,682
4. Kevin Song . . . . . . . . $5,098
EVENT #7 1/28/09
SHOOTOUT-NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $45
PLAYERS 260
PRIZE POOL $127,595
1. Matthew George . . . $34,232
2. Ian Kim . . . . . . . . . . $18,969
3. Ramzi Srour . . . . . . $14,096
4. Alen Patatanyan . . . $10,069
5. Randy Holland . . . . . $7,551
6. Patrick McMillan . . . $5,538
EVENT #6 1/27/09
OMAHA HI-LO 8 OR BETTER
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 266
PRIZE POOL $77,406
1. Russell Cockrell . . . $22,449
2. Terry Crowe . . . . . . $12,308
3. Manolito Navarro . . . $8,515
4. Dennis Thorn . . . . . . $5,651
5. Michael Politiski . . . . $4,412
EVENT #5 1/26/09
7-CARD STUD
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 161
PRIZE POOL $46,851
1. Bob Golick . . . . . . . $14,077
2. Hamid Taheri . . . . . . $7,965
3. Frankie O´Dell . . . . . $5,669
EVENT #4 1/25/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 800
PRIZE POOL $232,800
1. Alan Sugano . . . . . . $58,200
2. Yu Chan Seo . . . . . . $31,242
3. Bhagwan Tejwani . . $21,650
4. Oganes Terminasyan . $14,666
5. Steven Chalfin . . . . $10,476
6. Kurt Lohse . . . . . . . . $8,032
EVENT #3 1/24/09
LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $45
PLAYERS 223
PRIZE POOL $108,155
1. Gebrehiwet Goitom $31,367
2. Marwan Abdelal . . . $17,197
3. Ray Bonavida . . . . . $11,897
4. Sally Stephens . . . . . . $7,895
5. Mike Gambony . . . . . $6,165
EVENT #2 1/23/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $45
PLAYERS 473
PRIZE POOL $229,405
1. David "C4" Plastik . $59,640
2. Kwinsee Khoa Tran $34,640
3. Goran Gigoc . . . . . . $22,941
4. Calvin Phan . . . . . . $15,829
5. Michael Decock . . . $11,700
6. Ovenson Benoit . . . . . $9,176
EVENT #1 1/22/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 1,592
PRIZE POOL $463,272
1. Eugene Tito . . . . . . $124,985
2. Oscar Lopez Reyes . $64,858
3. Sara Chau . . . . . . . . $34,745
4. Cobra . . . . . . . . . . . . $27,796
5. Steve Richhart . . . . $20,847
6. Aric Lewis . . . . . . . . $15,473
