On Monday, the third day of play in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic took place from the Commerce Casino. A total of 167 players hit the felts and, when the smoke cleared on Day 3, just 63 remained, bursting the money bubble. Pacing the field are two PocketFivers: Chip Leader Kofi Redsoxsox Farkye (837,500) and Mike SowersUNCC Sowers, who sits in second with 741,500. The tournament’s final table takes place on Thursday. In the meantime, catch all of the action from the L.A. Poker Classic on PocketFivesLive.com, your source for WPT coverage of online poker players.
Kofi Redsoxsox Farkye (pictured at left) finished up Sunday’s play second in chips behind Antonio Esfandiari and maintained his position atop the leader board for much of the day on Monday. The PocketFiver’s raw aggression and timely moves have helped propel him through the tournament thus far. For example, he was priced in to call an all-in with 2-5 suited after he had opened and 4bet with the monstrous hand. His opponent held A-Q, but a deuce fell on the river to give Farkye the win and send his foe to the rails. At his table on Tuesday will be World Poker Association (WPA) Board of Directors member Nancy Todd Tyner, Greg “FBT” Mueller, and fellow PocketFiver Jeff ActionJeff Garza.PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Court Harrington, who has been roving the Commerce Casino for the site, commented on Farkye’s ride through the tournament: "After winning a huge pot on Sunday against Kevin BeL0WaB0Ve Saul, Farkye has not looked back or slowed down. He was able to destroy his table on the money bubble on Monday, seemingly winning every pot. With everyone in the money, Farkye will have to change gears at least a little, but going into Day 4 with the chip lead, he is in the spot everyone else wishes they were in."
Farkye is no stranger to success in live tournaments. Last March, he won the Nordic Masters of Poker for $224,000. In October of 2007, he finished fifth in the WPT’s North American Poker Championship at Fallsview for $237,000. That tournament featured a battle between eventual winner Scott BigRiskky Clements and runner up Jonathan FieryJustice Little. Barry barryg1 Greenstein and Garza were both at the final table as well.
Right behind Farkye is Mike SowersUNCC Sowers (pictured at right). The PocketFiver ousted Esfandiari from the tournament as an underdog, holding A-Q against Esfandiari’s A-K. Both players paired their ace on the flop, but a queen on the turn sent Sowers into the lead for good, busting the Day 2 chip leader from the L.A. Poker Classic. The 320,000 pot solidified his spot atop the field with 741,500 chips, about 100,000 behind Farkye.In October of 2007, Sowers won a $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament held during the UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic for $35,000. Three months later, he was back to his winning ways, taking down a $5,000 buy-in tournament held during the Borgata Winter Open in Atlantic City for $399,000. Sowers defeated Tom durrrr Dwan heads-up, with Erick Lindgren also at the final table. A total of 266 players entered, creating a $1.3 million prize pool. Sowers has a tough table draw on Tuesday. He’ll be flanked by Anthony babygrand Venturini, Chris Ferguson, and Erica Schoenberg, among others.
Sitting with the 18th largest chip stack in Los Angeles is Jeff ActionJeff Garza (pictured at left). He holds 290,000 chips, just above the average of 220,000. Garza had the honor of bursting the money bubble by sending Patrick Stemper home in 64th place after earlier crippling his stack by hitting a miracle flush draw. Harrington described Garza’s day at the L.A. Poker Classic: "Sometimes in poker you just have to get lucky at the right time. Garza was all in with a flush draw against a set and was able to hit the flush to double up, taking him from a short stack on the bubble to the upper third of the chip counts going into Day 4. Jeff's play is always solid and, late in a tournament, he is a huge threat to go deep and contend for the win."Garza’s sixth place in the 2007 North American Poker Championship was worth $184,000. He won a $5,000 buy-in Heads-Up preliminary tournament held during the 2008 Aussie Millions for $87,000. He scored a PocketFives.com Triple Crown in 2006, winning tournaments on Ultimate Bet and PokerStars.
PocketFivers remaining to face Day 4 include:
1. Kofi Redsoxsox Farkye, 837,500
2. Mike SowersUNCC Sowers, 741,500
7. Anthony babygrand Venturini, 508,000
11. Blake Balla-B13 Cahail, 369,500
14. Tom titantom32 Braband, 314,000
16. Peter Nordberg Feldman, 302,500
17. Andre aakkari Akkari, 296,000
18. Jeff ActionJeff Garza, 290,000
21. Xuan x2then Nguyen, 247,000
29. Bryan bparis Paris, 169,000
31. Cody thugmoneymkr Slaubaugh, 155,500
33. Shawn sprstoner Glines, 145,000
36. Bertrand ElkY Grospellier, 143,500
The top 10 chip stacks overall entering Tuesday’s play are as follows:
1. Kofi Farkye, 837,500
2. Mike Sowers, 741,500
3. Donald D'Auria, 666,500
4. Jeremy Kottler, 574,500
5. Chris Karagulleyan, 543,000
6. Daniel O'Brien, 534,500
7. Anthony Venturini, 508,000
8. Dan The Lu, 507,500
9. Chris Ferguson, 468,500
10. Matt Woodward, 420,000
PocketFivers sent to the rails during the day on Monday included Jimmy gobboboy Fricke, Yevginey atimos Timoshenko, Josh pbdrunks Van Duyn, Hevad RaiNKhaN Khan, Mohsin chicagocards1 Charania, Jamie TheNew Robbins, and Scott SCTrojans Freeman. Play resumes at 12:00 Noon Pacific Time today. Check out the progress of your favorite online poker players at PocketFivesLive.com.
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