After a controversial tournament conclusion in Canada, the World Poker Tour has moved onward to what is one of the venerable stops on its yearly circuit. Tomorrow, the WPT L. A. Poker Classic, a tournament that has been a part of the WPT schedule since the tour’s inception, kicks off with its singular Day One of action.
As previously stated, the L. A. Poker Classic is one of only three tournaments that has been on the schedule of the WPT every year in its 16-year history (the other two are the Five Diamond World Poker Classic and the Legends of Poker). It is also one of the few tournaments left on the WPT schedule that has held to its original buy in ($10,000) and that there is only one Day One for players to take part. The inaugural event, in which 136 players stepped to the fore, was also the “coming out” party for Denmark’s Gus Hansen, who won the second of his three WPT titles in this tournament.
The tournament field more than doubled in its second itineration in 2004, with 382 players stepping to the line and first place paying more than $1.3 million. This year would also mark the unveiling of another player who would go on to poker greatness, Antonio Esfandiari, who defeated Vinnie Vinh (before his “chair” days) in heads up play. This history of bringing “poker’s next great player” to the notice of the public continued in 2005, when Michael Mizrachi announced his presence to the world in defeating a 538-player field (and Haralabos Voulgaris heads up) in winning nearly $2 million and the Frederic Remington “Bronco Buster” trophy, arguably the second biggest trophy to get (besides a World Series of Poker bracelet).
2006 would mark the final WPT LAPC before the UIGEA would be passed and it was one for the record books. 692 players came out for action and the top two finishers in the tournament each earned over a million dollars, with the first-place finisher eventually receiving a $2,391,550 payday (the third highest ever payday on the WPT). Alan Goehring would be the recipient of that payday, defeating Daniel Quach in heads up play to take the title.
2007 was the last high mark for the WPT LAPC, at least as far as players and prize pool. 791 players set the record for the WPT LAPC (and kudos to the Commerce Casino, the host of the LAPC, for never lowering the buy-in to affect the record books) and the $2,429,970 that the first-place finisher received was the second biggest payday ever in WPT history (first goes to the champion of the 2007 Doyle Brunson Classic, Eugene Katchalov, at the Bellagio; Katchalov won $2,482,605). Eric Hershler outlasted poker professional J. C. Tran (who himself received $1.1 million-plus for his efforts) to win the championship that year.
Since 2008, the numbers have remained strong for the LAPC and so has the quality of its champions. Phil Ivey, Cornell Cimpan, Andras Koroknai, Gregory Brooks, Sean Jazayeri, Paul Klann (514), Chris Moorman, Anthony Zinno, Dietrich Fast and defending champion Daniel Strelitz have all hoisted the WPT Champions Cup and, in each instance, pocketed over a million dollars for their efforts. The turnout of the players has been the reason for that massive payday; the fewest players (514) for these events was for Klann’s championship run.
There 2018 WPT L. A. Poker Classic will kick off bright and early (for poker players) at noon on Saturday. The WPT final table of six will be played out on Thursday, with the next million-dollar recipient (the Commerce Casino is guaranteeing a first-place prize of $1 million, even though the WPT LAPC has NEVER fallen under that amount) being determined. The tournament will be streamed as a part of WPT’s live streaming efforts and taped for future broadcast on its Fox Sports airings.
