The Master Schools the Competition at the LA Poker Classic
The LA Poker Classic began on January 24, 2008. Held at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, the LAPC attracts celebrities and poker players from all over the globe. Culminating in the WPT Celebrity Invitational from March 1 – March 3, 2008, the LAPC has crowned champions this weekend in events 5 – 11, including a WPT Ladies champ and a Seven Card stud winner.
Event #5 was a $500 Seven Card Stud tournament. Tony Ma and Miami John Cernuto, both high class and high stakes players, made bank in the event, which had 136 total entrants. However, the last man standing was Paul Vinci of Shell Beach, CA. Vinci conquered the field to take down nearly $20k, adding to his lifetime tournament earnings of more than half a million dollars.
Here are the results:
1) Paul Vinci - $19,850 2) Di Xia - $11,210 3) Randy Holland - $7,980 4) Tommi Han - $5,540 5) John Cernuto - $4,190 6) Sirous Baghchehsaraie - $3,230 7) Mitchell Ledis - $2,570 8) Susan Lee - $1,910
533 people paid $500 to play in the NLHE tournament beginning Tuesday January 29, 2008. This included Thithi “Mimi” Tran. Tran, a former protégée of Barry Greenstein and a top tournament player in her own right, finished in 25th position, earning $1,810. However, the title belonged to newcomer Shan Jing, of Arcardia, California. Jing has earned more than $150,000 in tournaments in January 2008 alone.
These are the final standings:
1) Shan Jing - $64,595 2) Lance Tahata - $39,290 3) Mark Nasser - $25,070 4) Yong Han - $17,190 5) Marc Aubin - $12,540 6) Shengxiong Jin - $9,820 7) Ryan Kallberg - $7,370 8) Alan Myerson - $5,430 9) Vagan Sudzhyan - $3,880
Event #7 at the LAPC was a shootout. NLHE shootout, that is. A shootout, for those of you unaware, requires that players beat their entire table before moving onto the next one. That means the final table is comprised of people who've beaten at least one other table entirely to get there.
280 people entered the $500 event, driving the prize pool up to an impressive $135,800. The lion's share of that went to the winner, Ben Keiky. Keiky, a tournament newcomer, receive $38,010 for his victory.
Here are the results:
1) Ben Keiky - $38,010 2) Keith Rogers - $21,250 3) Alexander Mackenzie - $15,350 4) Allan Le - $9,910 5) Tony Grand - $7,740 6) Jail Akhavan - $6,110 7) David Rheem - $4,620 8) Chris Amaral - $3,400 9) Paul Leaverton - $2,440
February kicked off with a bang at the 2008 LAPC. Men “The Master” Nguyen narrowly missed the final table of the eighth event at the Commerce Casino's annual festival of poker. The 2005 CardPlayer Player of the Year finished in 10th place in the $500 NLHE tournament. He was one of 549 players in the tourney. The top spot went to David Gutfreund. This is the Chicagoan's first tournament championship.
These are the final standings:
1) David Gutfreund - $66,710 2) Abedeen Aamir - $40,550 3) Jeffrey Smith - $25,870 4) Ricky Chow - $17,740 5) Paul Henrick - $12,940 6) Steven Rosen - $10,140 7) Ellwood Unzellman - $7,600 8) John Nguyen - $5,600 9) Itasu Suzuki - $4,000
The ladies took to the felt for Event #9. This was the second World Poker Tour Ladies event. The first was held at the Borgata less than a month ago and was won by Regette Bechara. This time, 82 ladies paid their $1,000 to play in the event. They drove the prize pool up to $77,980. The final table was a star-studded affair with Crystal Osgood-Gray and Erica Schoenberg finishing in the top three. Osgood-Gray is the founder of the Ladies Poker Association and Schoenberg, besides being David Benyamine's fiancée, is an accomplished poker pro with more than $580,000 in lifetime tournament earnings.
However, the day belonged to former MIT and Yale student Vanessa Selbst. Selbst is a talented and highly intelligent poker player who has made three WSOP final tables to date. She earned $26,500 for the win.
Here are the results:
1) Vanessa Selbst - $26,500 2) Erica Schoenberg - $14,690 3) Crystal Osgood-Gray - $10,920 4) Christina Hung - $7,800 5) Jane Delacerra - $5,850 6) Denise Aaron - $4,290 7) Katrina Lim - $3,380 8) Carol Neal - $2,600 9) Julie Le - $1,950
Men “The Master” Nguyen proved why he's got the nickname he does in Event #10 at the 2008 LA Poker Classic. The poker icon beat out 172 other players in the $300 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo competition. The Master schooled his opponents to take the title and the $15,129 that came with it.
These are the final standings:
1) Men Nguyen - $15,129 2) Ray Bonavida - $8,558 3) Paramjit Gill - $6,092 4) Terry Lee Wells - $4,229 5) Bill Mendicki - $3,197 6) Daniel Lawrence - $2,467 7) Ali Ghazi - $1,963 8) Rui Heim - $1,460