Call it an upset if you will at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic. With Full Tilt Poker pro Carlos Mortensen seeking to become the first player to four WPT wins and holding down the chip lead entering the final table, rookie Gregory Brooks ultimately came away with the title and banked $1.6 million. Mortensen, the WPT’s all-time money leader, finished in third place for $640,000.
Brooks, who was playing in his first WPT event, doubled up in the early going at the expense of Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar after his aces withstood pocket queens. He vaulted into the chip lead as a result and never looked back.
It took 31 hands for an elimination to occur at the WPT L.A. Poker Classic final table. Darryll “DFish” Fish was the first player to depart. He 3bet all-in before the flop and tabled Q-10 of spades, but Mortensen, the original raiser in the hand, called and flipped up pocket queens. The board ran out 10-9-7-A-6 and Fish was relegated to the rail in sixth place for $235,000.
Then, the online poker world suffered a setback when Steve “gboro780” Gross, a member of the DoylesRoom Brunson 10, was eliminated in fifth place. Gross shoved all-in from the button with J-10 of spades and received a taker in fellow online poker pro Rajkumar, who held A-3. Gross had a double-gutter and a flush draw by the river, but whiffed on the final card to depart $304,000 richer for his wear.
Four hands after Gross went busto, Amir Lehavot followed suit. On a flop of J-9-6, Rajkumar check-raised all-in with pocket queens and, perhaps curiously, Lehavot called for his tournament life with K-Q for a gutshot straight draw and two overcards to the board. The turn and river came a four and a three, respectively, and Lehavot hit the skids in fourth place for $421,000.
Brooks had a healthy lead throughout the final table and, after taking a pot worth 2.3 million in chips from Mortensen, sent the famed poker pro to the rail in third on the very next hand. Brooks 3bet all-in on a flop of J-5-3 with two clubs and Mortensen called all-in with K-J for top pair. Brooks tabled 6-4 of clubs for flush and straight draws, the former of which came through on the river.
Brooks held a 5:2 chip lead entering heads-up play against Rajkumar, but closing out the youngster was anything but simple. Rajkumar doubled up after tabling pocket eights on a Q-J-7-5 two-spade board and was ahead of Brooks’ K-10 of spades for flush and straight draws. The river was a red four and Rajkumar doubled up to nine million in chips compared to Brooks’ 11 million.
Brooks then won a pot worth eight million to regain a healthy edge and, on the final hand of the 2011 WPT L.A. Poker Classic, the short stack was all-in with J-10 on a flop of 7-3-2. Brooks held 8-7 for top pair and Rajkumar drew blanks on the turn or river.
Here were the final results from the Los Angeles poker tournament:
1. Gregory Brooks – $1,654,120
2. Vivek Rajkumar – $908,730
3. Carlos Mortensen – $640,680
4. Amir Lehavot – $421,680
5. Steve Gross – $304,000
6. Darryll Fish – $235,350
Next up for the WPT is a trip up the California coast to San Jose, the site of the Bay 101 Shooting Star event. The unique pro bounty tournament takes place from March 14th to 18th and features a $10,000 buy-in.
