Entering the final table of the World Poker Tour (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic second in chips, Mike SowersUNCC Sowers ultimately landed in third place, taking home $656,797 for his efforts. The PocketFiver was up and down throughout the entire tournament and its final table was no exception. In the end, the L.A. Poker Classic was won by Andrew Cimpan, who took home nearly $1.7 million. It marked a successful end to the WPT stop by PocketFivers, who finished third, seventh, 14th, and 15th, or in four of the top 15 spots. The entire event was tracked on site by PocketFivesLive.com, the best source for WPT coverage of online poker players.
On the 43rd hand of final table play, Sowers dropped a sizable pot to Cimpan. With blinds of 40,000-80,000 and a 10,000 chip ante, Sowers opened for 200,000 and Cimpan called from the small blind to see the flop of K-3-2 with two spades. Sowers made a continuation bet of 325,000 and Cimpan called. The turn came the queen of hearts and the action went check-check. The river was the king of clubs and Sowers bet 520,000. Cimpan called with pocket sevens, trumping Sowers' 8-9 of clubs. The 2.2 million chip pot helped catapult the eventual winner into the lead.
Eleven hands later, Sowers doubled up through Chris Ferguson (pictured at left) with pocket kings against the Full Tilt Poker pro's Q-J. Ferguson bet enough on the jack-high flop to put Sowers all in. The PocketFiver doubled up to nearly three million, erasing the earlier loss to Cimpan. Sowers promptly doubled up Pat Walsh in a coin flip, holding A-J against Walsh's pocket tens. The flop actually came ten-high and Sowers' stack was cut in half, continuing his roller coaster ride.
Sowers' aggression didn’t stop, however, and he gradually worked his way back up to close to three million chips by taking down blinds and antes. On the 96th hand of play, Sowers doubled up to nearly six million chips at the expense of Binh Nguyen (pictured at right) Sowers pushed over the top of a raise by Nguyen pre-flop holding K-Q of clubs. Nguyen called with pocket sevens and the two were off to the races. The queen-high flop sent the PocketFiver into the lead for good. However, Sowers would give most of his newfound chips to Cimpan in another race holding pocket fives against Cimpan's A-Q. This time, the board came ace-high and Sowers found himself on the losing end of the coin flip.The PocketFiver's ride through the L.A. Poker Classic came to an end 116 hands into final table play at the hands of Nguyen. With blinds of 60,000-120,000 and a 20,000 chip ante, Nguyen raised to one million pre-flop over the top of a raise of 300,000 by Sowers. The PocketFiver pushed for 2.4 million and Nguyen happily called with pocket queens. Sowers showed pocket fours and the board ran out J-9-8-J-K.
Sowers took home $654,797. It was his second six-figure live tournament score. Sowers also took down a $5,000 buy-in preliminary event held during the 2008 Borgata Winter Open for $399,000. He finished eighth in the $10,000 buy-in Pot Limit Hold'em Championship during the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $99,000.
PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Court Harrington, who has been on site covering the action from the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, commented on Sowers' final table: "Sowers played a great tournament, putting his opponents to the test and putting himself in a position to win. He lost a couple of key coin flips at a stage in the tournament where you have to win a hand at showdown. It won't be long before Sowers is the last player standing in a major live tournament."
Sowers is currently 86th on the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings. The Charlotte, North Carolina native has a quarter of a million dollars in earnings from tournaments that are tracked for the Rankings in February on the strength of a runner up showing in Event 12 of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) for $221,000.
In the end, the PocketFives.com contingent lodged an impressive showing in the WPT tournament:
3rd: Mike SowersUNCC Sowers, $654,797
7th: Blake Balla-B13 Cahail, $180,403
14th: Peter Nordberg Feldman, $57,796
15th: Dan Raidan Lu, $57,796
23rd: Tom titantom32 Braband, $44,433
29th: Andre aakkari Akkari, $38,085
31st: Kofi Redsoxsox Farkye, $38,085
32nd: Bertrand ElkY Grospellier, $38,085
34th: Shawn sprstoner Glines, $38,085
35th: Anthony babygrand Venturini, $38,085
46th: Jeff ActionJeff Garza, $27,395
52nd: Bryan bparis Paris, $27,395
54th: Cody thugmoneymkr Slaubaugh, $27,395
Next up for PocketFivesLive.com is the Bay 101 Shooting Star event, which takes place in San Jose, California. The $10,000 buy-in tournament kicks off on March 16th and crowns a victor four days later. There are two starting days and players will receive 20,000 chips. Last year's event was won by Brandon Cantu, who defeated Steve Sung heads-up; Jennifer Harman finished in third. Other past winners have included Ted Forrest (2007) and Nam Le (2006).
Relive all of the action from the L.A. Poker Classic by visiting PocketFivesLive.com. We'll see you in San Jose!
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