LAPC
CHAMPIONSHIP NO-LIMIT
FINAL SETS PRIZE POOL RECORD
A record-setting total of 382 players
entered the LAPC Championship/World Poker
Tour $10,000 no-limit hold'em event, generating
a prize pool of $3,781,500. It was the
biggest prize pool ever for Commerce Casino,
the biggest to date for the WPT and the
biggest for any poker event outside the
World Series. The winner will receive
$1,399,135.
The
six finalists will return to play and
be televised tomorrow afternoon, with
Antonio Esfandiari of San Francisco the
chip leader with 1,148,000. Two other
finalists, Card Player columnist Adam
Schoenfeld (San Jose) and software consultant
Mike Keohan (San Mateo) also are from
the Bay Area. Day one of the four-day
event ended with 177 players left. On
day two they played down to three tables,
with Esfandiari also ending as the chip
leader with 337,200.
The
27 players on day 3 started with $500
antes and blinds of $2,000-$4,000, with
seven minutes left in that 90-minute round.
Steve Zolotow, very low-chipped with 4,400,
was quickly first out.
When
the 27 starters had been whittled down
to two tables of 18 players, blinds were
4-8k with 1k antes. Jimmy Athanas was
first out, losing with pocket queens.
Young Phan, holding pocket jacks, beat
him by flopping a set. With 6-12k blinds,
John Sacha flopped a 9 to his A-9, but
he lost when Bill Gazes, with A-K, hit
a king.
Playing
with 6-12k blinds, Mel Wiener ended 16th.
He was all in with 7s-5s. Casey Kastle,
with K-9, made a surprise full house when
the board came 10-10-3-9-9.
Card
Player CEO Jeff Shulman, who earlier had
taken so long to make a decision that
the levels jumped twice while he was thinking,
went all in for 60k with A-10. Vinh called
with K-4 and snagged two more kings.
Now
the stakes were 8-16 blinds with 2k antes.
Alan Goering, who won the Bellagio's 25k
main event last year, had gotten low-chipped
early on and went all in a half-dozen
times before finally going out in 14th
place. He had A-3 and Keohan, holding
a K-9, flopped a king.
As
play continued, Gazes, all in, took down
the biggest pot so far, totaling 530k,
when his A-J stood up to the A-2 held
by Paris poker player David Benyamine.
Paul Wolfe was next out. He ended 13th
when Vinh, with 4-5, made trip 5s to beat
his A-9.
Next
to depart, in 12th place, was Amir Vahedi
who went broke when his K-10 couldn't
catch Schoenfeld's A-K. Andrew Bloch went
out 11th. He moved in with K-K. Tran had
Q-Q and made a set.
The
10 finalists now moved to one table to
play down to six, with Esfandiari still
leading with 605k. Later, playing 10-20k,
Kastle had a nightmare involvement with
kings. He raised, Benyamine re-raised
and both Keohan and Tran moved all in.
Benyamine and Kastle folded, and Kastle,
obviously giving somebody credit for aces,
showed that he had mucked pocket kings.
When
Keohan and Tran both turned up Q-Q, a
devastated Kastle realized he had blown
a chance to bust one player, cripple another
and haul in a huge pot. Adding further
to the nightmare, he later did play kings,
going all in and getting crippled when
Gazes, with pocket 8s, made a set. Kastle's
last few chips went in soon after with
a rag hand and he lost to an A-3 offsuit
that turned into a flush.
Young Phan followed him to the payout
window a couple of hands later. Phan moved
in with Ks-10s and Benyamine also moved
in with A-Q offsuit. The board came Q-7-3-7-A
and the two pair blew Phan away.
Vinh
later made a miracle escape. Baxter raised
to 60k with AK and Vinh moved in with
A-3, surviving when a trey turned. He
jubilantly whooped and did some mugging
for a camerman taping the action.
On
hand 76, Baxter had little to celebrate
when he had his aces cracked and took
a huge hit. First Vinh raised to 55k,
then Baxter came over the top for 175k
more, and then Schoenfeld moved in for
an additional 324k with pocket 9s. A board
of 10-8-6-7-6 gave Schoenfeld a straight,
and Baxter was left with 35k. He lost
it a few hands later when he went all
in with Jh-8h. Esfandiari and Benyamine
called and checked the pot down, with
Esfandiari winning with pocket 8s.
With
one player to go, the finalists voted
to keep the same blinds of 10-20k for
another 90 minutes. Play dragged on until
4 a.m., 13 hours after the start. Finally,
Tran raised all in with pocket 9s. Esfandiari
called with A-Q, hit an ace on the river,
and it was showtime coming up for the
final six.
-- by Max Shapiro
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