A Chip and a Chair

The first event of Commerce Casino's LA Poker Classic is in the books and is one for the books too. Not only did the $335 buy-in event become the largest tournament ever at that casino with 5,847 entrants-a field that size sounds more like the main event at the World Series of Poker- but the winner, Sacramento's Darrell Cain, made the most remarkable comeback in LAPC history. Thinking he was finished for the day after losing virtually all of his chips, he was cashing out when someone noticed he left eight chips on the table. Called back to the table, he went on to win the event and take home $363,936.

"It's unbelievable," said Cain. "Those eight little green chips... Man, the good Lord was looking over me. I'm just elated." Cain, who was taught to play poker by his father, will split the proceeds from his victory with his dad. "That's just the way we do it. We are a team at playing poker."

Commerce Casino, known for providing poker enthusiasts relatively small buy-ins with large prize pools, guaranteed a cool $1 million for this first event in the 51-tournament series. Cain's return on investment was 1,086 percent. The other final table players sharing in the prize money were:

1 Darrell Cain . . . . . . $363,936 Sacramento, CA
2 Amir Ghazvinian . . $189,480 Reseda, CA
3 Joel Tushnett . . . . . $107,970 Reseda, CA
4 Michael Blocksidge . $88,220 Rocky River, OH
5 Andreas Dassopoulos . $68,470 Rancho Cucamonga, CA
6 Michael Woo . . . . . . $55,300 Hacienda Heights, CA
7 Abraham Barbarian $42,140 North Hills, CA
8 Scott Takeshita . . . . . $28,970 Chino, CA
9 Charlie Ng . . . . . . . . $21,070 Camarillo, CA

"Darrell Cain's win shows that it doesn't take a miracle to win hundreds of thousands of dollars at Commerce Casino's LAPC, it just takes staying in the game!" said LAPC Tournament Director Matt Savage.

An interview with Cain can be seen by navigating to the www.commercecasino. com home page and clicking on "LAPC blog."

Commerce Casino 's L.A. Poker Classic schedule continues through March 4, thirty-five more offerings than in 2009. Anchored by two major World Poker Tour® (WPT) events, the LAPC will feature an estimated $20 million total prize pool, with $3.3 million in guarantees-the largest amount ever put forth by Commerce Casino.

We'll continue to bring you results from the LA Poker Classic in this and ensuing issues, and there's more than enough time for you to get yourself down to Commerce and test your own skill and luck.

COMMERCE CASINO L.A. POKER CLASSIC
EVENT #8 1/27/10
7-CARD STUD HI/LO 8 OR BETTER
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 150
PRIZE POOL $43,200
1. Al Barbieri . . . . . . . . $12,970
2. David Donovan . . . . . $7,340
3. Stan Zdanowich . . . . $5,230
4. Michael Madari . . . . $3,630
5. Blair Rodman . . . . . . $2,740
6. Brent Harrington . . . $2,120
7. Odette Tremblay . . . . $1,680
8. Warren Clarke . . . . . $1,250
9. Manuel Labandeira . . .$910

EVENT #7 1/27/10
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $45
PLAYERS 296
PRIZE POOL $142,080
1. Eddie Alaei . . . . . . . . $41,210 plus... $10,000 Seat
2. Jonathan Urban . . . . $22,590
3. John Nguyen . . . . . . $15,630
4. Philip Stark . . . . . . . $10,370
5. Bashar Satoot . . . . . . . $8,100
6. Hany Daoud . . . . . . . . $6,390
7. Richard Sciuto . . . . . . $4,830
8. Raz Mael . . . . . . . . . . $3,550
9. Phong Nguyen . . . . . . $2,560

EVENT #6 1/26/10
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 320
PRIZE POOL $96,210
1. Matthew Ho . . . . . . $25,230
2. Dan Heimiller . . . . . $13,820
3. Rocky Enciso . . . . . . $9,220
4. Raena Janes . . . . . . . $6,540
5. Mark Gregorich . . . . $4,880
6. Jing Lin . . . . . . . . . . . $3,870
7. Luis Velador . . . . . . . $2,900
8. Kenneth Thomson . . $2,170
9. Ruben Vera . . . . . . . . $1,570

EVENT #5 1/26/10
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 250
PRIZE POOL $72,000
1. John Nguyen . . . . . . $20,130
2. Matt Keikoan . . . . . $11,150
3. Benjamin Nguyen . . . $8,290
4. Ryan Baroff . . . . . . . . $5,920
5. Norman Apstein . . . . $4,440
6. Sande Slutsky . . . . . . $3,260
7. Steven Shwartz . . . . . $2,560
8. Paul Nguyen . . . . . . . $1,970
9. Scott Marks . . . . . . . . $1,480

EVENT #4 1/25/10
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 162
PRIZE POOL $50,000
1. Michael Rocco . . . . $15,020
2. Al Barbieri . . . . . . . . . $8,500
3. Danny Noam . . . . . . . $6,050
4. Sandra Taylor . . . . . . $4,200
5. Stepan Djangdjian . . $3,180
6. Larry Kantor . . . . . . . $2,450
7. Brian Goddard . . . . . $1,950
8. Paul Vinci . . . . . . . . . $1,450

EVENT #3 1/24/10
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $35
PLAYERS 371
PRIZE POOL $106,848
1. Andy Phan . . . . . . . $29,198
2. Ron Bauer . . . . . . . . $16,030
3. Peter Nguyen . . . . . . $10,680
4. Matt Schultz . . . . . . . . $7,590
5. Hyugjun Park . . . . . . $5,660
6. Farshad Fahim . . . . . $4,490
7. Chad Lewin . . . . . . . . $3,370
8. Dean Gilford . . . . . . . $2,510
9. Lillian Allen . . . . . . . $1,820

EVENT #2 1/24/10
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $45
PLAYERS 263
PRIZE POOL $126,240
1. Roland Weedon . . . . $36,580
2. Kyle White . . . . . . . $20,070
3. Aaron Motoyama . . $13,890
4. Matt Salsberg . . . . . . $9,220
5. Alexander Krisak . . . $7,200
6. Kent Keilholtz . . . . . . $5,680
7. Nick Kolich . . . . . . . . $4,290
8. Jon Lactaoen . . . . . . . $3,160
9. Kirk Conrad . . . . . . . $2,270