Poker Articles

The Los Angeles Poker Classic always draws one of the largest fields of the year, with last year’s event having a top prize of almost $2.5 million and second place brining in about $1.2 million.  With so much money on the line almost all of the top pros turn out for the event, and with the World Poker Tour Celebrity Invitational on the heels of the LAPC, there are more than a few celebrities from outside the poker world that make their way into the field as well.

Last year Eric Hershler took the top prize, defeating a hot J.C. Tran in heads up play.  Also at the final table were well known poker players Paul Wasicka and Chau Giang.  Bill Edler, who went on to have an amazing year for the rest of 2007, finished in 7th place just missing the TV final table.

Tran wasn’t the only J.C. to make a strong run last year, with J.C. “PrtyPSux” Alvarado making a deep run only to finish in 15th place after a series of tough beats, including one hand where his KQ offsuit lost to another players KQ offsuit all in preflop.  Both of the J.C.’s came off of the 2007 LAPC going strong with Tran winning the Reno event while Alvarado was the runner up in the same event.

Other PocketFivers making the money included Ari Engel, Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little, and Jeff “HB_Hitman” Anderson.  Scott “BigRiskky” Clements was eliminated just before the money.

This year’s event is expected to be another large event with first place well over $2 million.  The main event kicks off on Saturday February 23rd and the field will play until only 6 players remain to play out the televised final table on the 28th. 

Last year just under 800 (791) players turned out to buy into the event.  Whether that number will be reached again or not is up in the air, but either way this tournament will still be one of the largest of the year.  The Commerce Casino is prepared for the crowd and always runs a good tournament, with the space to accommodate such large numbers.

The Los Angeles Poker Classic will be the second event of the year for PocketFivesLive, which kicked off 2008 with the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure European Poker Tour event in the Bahamas.

Good luck to everyone out at the Commerce playing in all the LAPC preliminary events.  If you are playing in the main event and would like to be covered on PocketFivesLive.com, you can Register Here for coverage.


PocketFivesLive.com coverage of the 2008 Los Angeles Poker Classic is brought to you by PokerStars.