Commerce Casino's LA Poker Classic just keeps rolling on. Poker Player Newspaper's previous issue included results from Events 1 - 8. This time we have results from events 9 - 23, and guess what? We're not done yet. Not by a long shot. A total of 51 events comprise this tournament, which began January 20 and concludes its six-week run on March 4.
Upcoming events include a $10,000 buy-in heads-up championship on February 23, a $10,000 buy-in no-limit event that begins February 26, and a three-day, $25,100 buy-in high rollers tournament two days later.
The buy-ins were lower for the events we're reporting on this issue, but they did include two events with $250,000 guarantees, as well as single elimination, heads-up play that was capped at 256 entrants and was won by Los Angeles player Michael Kamran, who took down $17,860 along with a $10,000 seat in the main event for his victory.
Event No. 11, a $335 buy-in no-limit hold 'em tournament with re-buys, guaranteed a prize pool of $250,000, but the prize pool exceeded the guarantee and Stephen Ma of Iowa City, IA took first place and a prize of $71,292. Finishing second was David Baker, of Katy, TX, who won $39,050, while Dash Dudley of Lansing, MI dashed home with $26,040 for third place.
Event No. 18 also offered a quarter-million dollar guarantee, but at a bargain buy-in of $220, it attracted 2,134 players who generated a prize pool of $405,460 that was far in excess of the guarantee. The winner was Inhpounh Vongvone of Nipomo, CA who took home an even $100,000. Second place money went to Melbert Tato of Van Nuys, CA, who won $52,440, while Shawn Chang of Bothell, WA left with $27,700 for his third place finish.
Next issue we'll report the results of a no-limit event with a $1 million guarantee, a Badugi event, HORSE, Chinese poker, and the no-limit ironman event-where there are no scheduled breaks, meals are served at the table, and players answer the call of nature at their own peril.
COMMERCE CASINO L.A. POKER CLASSIC
EVENT #23 2/9/10
OMAHA HI-LO 8/B
BUY-IN $500 + $45
PLAYERS 147
PRIZE POOL $70,650
1. Barry Levy . . . . . . . $21,840
2. Don McNamara . . . $12,000
3. Saundra Taylor . . . . . $8,470
4. Shengtao Gan . . . . . . $5,640
5. Mark Gregorich . . . . $4,590
EVENT #22 2/9/10
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 267
PRIZE POOL $76,896
1. Steven Moss . . . . . . $22,326
2. Frank Inglese . . . . . $12,230
3. Daniel Braderlott . . . $8,460
4. Linh Luong . . . . . . . . $5,610
5. Bill Watchman . . . . . $4,380
EVENT #21 2/8/10
POT LIMIT OMAHA HI-LO 8/B
BUY-IN $500 + $45
PLAYERS 116
PRIZE POOL $55,680
1. Jason "J.D." Newitt $17,270
2. Chris Bjorin . . . . . . . $9,470
3. Colin Burton . . . . . . . $6,680
4. Dimitrii Valouev . . . . $4,450
5. Gary Do . . . . . . . . . . . $3,620
EVENT #20 2/8/10
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $45
PLAYERS 269
PRIZE POOL $129,120
1. Farbod Ahmadi . . . $37,430
2. Sorel Mizzi . . . . . . . $20,530
3. David Hicks . . . . . . . $14,200
4. Melik Bagdasaryan . $9,430
5. Le Banh . . . . . . . . . . . $7,360
6. Zennawi Petros . . . . . $5,810
EVENT #19 2/7/10
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 286
PRIZE POOL $82,368
1. Alexandru Masek . . $23,918
2. Gharnik Avakians . $13,100
3. Raz Mael . . . . . . . . . . $9,060
4. Walter Smiley . . . . . . $6,010
5. Unknown . . . . . . . . . . $4,690
EVENT #18 2/6/10
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $200 + $20
PLAYERS 2,134
PRIZE POOL $406,208
1. Inhpounh Vongvone $100,000
2. Melbert Tato . . . . . . $52,440
3. Shawn Chang . . . . . $27,700
4. Henry Noyes . . . . . . $20,450
5. Sami Rustom . . . . . . $16,490
6. Othneil Wight . . . . . $13,190
7. Ed Hansen . . . . . . . . . $9,800
EVENT #17 2/4/10
HEADS UP-NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 256
PRIZE POOL $71,680
1. Michael Kamran . . $17,860
2. Dash Dudley . . . . . . . $9,320
3. Nick Civitarese . . . . . $4,730
4. Joseph Cheong . . . . . $4,730
5. Ray Henson . . . . . . . . $2,440
EVENT #16 2/3/10
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
6-HANDED
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 245
PRIZE POOL $69,825
1. Nicholas Carrillo . . . $21,635
2. Vicente Castillo . . . . $11,170
3. Phong Nguyen . . . . . . $7,680
4. Tuan Hoang . . . . . . . $5,590
EVENT #15 2/2/10
LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $45
PLAYERS 96
PRIZE POOL $46,080
1. Nicholas Derke . . . . $15,670
2. Martin Corpuz Jr . . . $8,680
3. Joseph Holmes . . . . . $6,450
4. Haytham Shamaoun $4,610
5. Brent Courson . . . . . $3,460
6. Matthew Szymaszek . $2,530
EVENT #14 2/1/10
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 440
PRIZE POOL $126,720
1. Amir Ghazvian . . . . $34,230
2. Xuan Nguyen . . . . . $17,870
3. Peter Nguyen . . . . . . $12,670
4. Stephen Naideth . . . . $8,740
5. Kelvin Goode . . . . . . $6,460
6. Daniel Dahan . . . . . . $5,070
7. Glenn Forster . . . . . . $3,800
8. John Lovejoy . . . . . . $2,780
EVENT #13 1/31/10
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $45
PLAYERS 365
PRIZE POOL $200,000
1. Al Barbieri . . . . . . . . $54,700
2. Ray Qartomy . . . . . $30,000
3. Larry Gordon . . . . . $20,000
4. Sam Tong . . . . . . . . . $14,200
5. Paul Herrick . . . . . . $10,600
6. Sirous Baghchehsaraie . $8,400
7. Mohammad Bachalzadeh $6,300
8. Michael Kamran . . . $4,700
EVENT #12 1/30/10
H.O.R.S.E.
BUY-IN $500 + $45
PLAYERS 174
PRIZE POOL $83,520
1. Stephen Su . . . . . . . $25,120
