La Poker Classic Winners
Oscars Best Picture Winners Best Picture Winners Golden Globes Emmys San Diego Comic-Con New York Comic-Con Sundance Film Festival Toronto Int'l. Six ladies took the WPT final table stage at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles to play poker for a guaranteed $20,000 to be divided across six worthy, self-nominated charities. LA Poker Classic. A total of 490 entries were made in 2020 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, creating a prize pool of $4,727,550. After five full days of tournament.
Chris Moorman gave a masterclass performance at the WPT LA Poker Classic final table to demolish hopes of a home victory and claim the $1,015,460 first prize.
Chris Moorman gave a masterclass performance at the WPT LA Poker Classic final table to demolish hopes of a home victory and claim the $1,015,460 first prize.
The world´s best online poker player – Chris Moorman – showed he is equally a force to be reckoned with in a live poker environment when taking down the WPT LA Poker Classic for the second seven-figure score of his career.
Throughout the nine hours it took to complete the six-handed final table, Moorman pressured his opponents into mistakes and – when things did not go entirely to plan – he recovered to bust out four of his final table opponents and become the latest member of the WPT Champions Club.
Going into the final table, Moorman was most people´s favourite to take the WPT LA Poker Classic despite being second in chips to overnight leader Michael Rocco. Moorman also had to overcome two WSOP bracelet winners – Patrick Bruel and Adam Friedman – if he was going to add a WPT title to his impressive resume.
# | WPT LA Poker Classic | Chips |
1 | Michael Rocco | 5,615,000 |
2 | Chris Moorman | 3,190,000 |
3 | Patrick Bruel | 2,280,000 |
4 | Josh Neufeld | 1,930,000 |
5 | Glenn Lafaye | 1,855,000 |
6 | Adam Friedman | 1,150,000 |
Moorman Goes Up then Down – Friedman First to Bust
When the final table got underway at the Commerce Casino, the tournament was a few hands short of going in Level 26 (blinds 20,000/40,000 – ante 5,000). Chris Moorman started well enough – winning six of the first nine hands – but was forced out of a 1.8 million chip pot by Michael Rocco to be reduced below his starting stack.
During the early action, Adam Friedman had lost half his stack to Josh Neufeld when Neufeld flopped a Seven-high straight and, down to his last fourteen big blinds, Friedman moved all-in with 4♥ 4♦ and received a call from Glenn Lafaye (A♥ J♠). Lafaye paired his Ace on the flop and Friedman was eliminated from the WPT LA Poker Classic final table in sixth place.
Moorman Eliminates Neufeld but Doesn´t Know What to do about Rocco
Chris Moorman recovered the chips he had lost to Michael Rocco with interest when he shoved all-in to a pot already containing 3.8 million chips and forced a fold from Rocco. He then eliminated Josh Neufeld in fifth 10♣ 10♦ > A♥ 10♥ to have half the chips in play in front of him, but could not shake off Michael Rocco.
Michael Rocco forced Chris Moorman out of another substantial pot to level the chip counts between the two players, and then took four out of the next five pots to open a gap between the two chip leaders. Moorman was heard to say, I don´t know what to do about this guy
to one of his supporters on the rail, and things got worse for Chris Moorman shortly after, when Glenn Lafaye took him for 1.6 million chips a few hands later with a paired Queen.
Things got even worse for Chris Moorman as the game went into Level 29 when he doubled-up Patrick Bruel 4♣ 4♦ > A♠ K♠ and, when play started for Level 30 (blinds 50,000/100,000 – ante 15,000) Chris Moorman was the shortest stacked of the four remaining players:
# | WPT LA Poker Classic | Chips |
1 | Michael Rocco | 6,115,000 |
2 | Patrick Bruel | 3,705,000 |
3 | Glenn Lafaye | 3,495,000 |
4 | Chris Moorman | 2,705,000 |
Moorman Back on Track – Busts Bruel, but Chopped Back Down by Lafaye
Moorman´s recovery came courtesy of a flopped paired of Threes against Patrick Bruel and some fairly aggressive pre-flop betting. By the time Level 30 came to a close, Chris Moorman and Patrick Bruel had exchanged places on the leaderboard, and this enabled Chris Moorman to call Bruel´s shove following the flop of J♥ 8♠ 2♣. Bruel turned over K♣ 8♣ for a pair of Eights, but he failed to improve past Moorman´s (A♣ J♣) flopped pair of Jacks and was eliminated in fourth place.
With his enhanced chip stack, Chris Moorman started to target Glen Lafaye – who had taken the chip lead from Michael Rocco after a failed Rocco bluff – however, one huge pot in which Lafaye flopped a set of Deuces against Chris Moorman´s K♣ K♠, reduced Moorman´s stack back down to 2 million chips.
Moorman Wins the Pivotal Hand of the Final Table to Bust Rocco
The pivotal hand of the WPT LA Poker Classic came at the end of Level 31 (60,000/120,000 – ante 20,000). Glenn Lafaye had raised to 325,000 chips from the button, and Michael Rocco moved all-in from the Small Blind. Chris Moorman shoved over the top from the Big Blind and Glenn Lafaye made the call – knowing that if his hand was to hold, victory the WPT LA Poker Classic would be his:
- Glenn Lafaye: Q♦ J♦
- Chris Moorman: 10♠ 10♣
- Michael Rocco A♣ 8♦
The flop of K♥ Q♠ J♥ gave Glenn Lafaye two pairs, while both Chris Moorman and Michael Rocco both had draws to a Straight. The 3♠ on the Turn was a blank, and Lafaye would accomplish a dual knockout and victory in the event if he could avoid an Ace, a Ten or a Nine on the River. Dramatically, the A♠ was dealt on the River – giving Chris Moorman a virtual triple up and eliminating Michael Rocco in third place.
Lafaye Leads into Heads Up, but Moorman Pressure Wins the Day
Despite Chris Moorman´s triple up, Glenn Lafaye held an 8.275 million -v- 7.75 million chip advantage going into the heads-up. However, his lead was not to last for long, as Moorman applied the pressure, and reduced his opponent´s stack to less than two million chips without a single hand going to showdown. Lafaye managed one double-up when his A♠ Q♠ out-kicked Moorman´s Q♣ 5♥ on a Queen-high board, but Glenn Lafaye´s participation in the WPT LA Poker Classic was only going to last five more hands.
With blinds now at 100,000/200,000 (ante 25,000), Chris Moorman raised to 600,000 chips and Glenn Lafaye made the call. Following the flop of J♣ 7♣ 6♦, Chris Moorman led out again for another 525,000 chips, and Glenn Lafaye responded by announcing he was all-in. Moorman snap-called and the cards were on their backs:
Glenn Lafaye: 5♠ 4♦ for an open-ended straight draw
Wpt La Poker Classic
Chris Moorman: A♥ A♦ for an over-pair
Lafaye needed to hit either end of his draw to stay alive in the tournament, but the Q♥ on the Turn and 5♦ on the River quietened the American´s rail and gave Chris Moorman victory in the WPT LA Poker Classic.
# | WPT LA Poker Classic | Result |
1 | Chris Moorman | $ 1,015,460 |
2 | Glenn Lafaye | $ 662,840 |
3 | Michael Rocco | $ 423,440 |
4 | Patrick Bruel | $ 332,190 |
5 | Josh Neufeld | $ 264,520 |
6 | Adam Friedman | $ 200,440 |
Related Poker News:
Last night Dannie Perry became what every regular guy rounder dreams of. Wednesday afternoon, Perry walked in to the Commerce Casino, and just like his 798 fellow competitors, he plunked down his $300 buy in, and dreamed of hoisting the trophy. But, unlike the other 798, Dannie's dream became a reality. Dannie Perry walked out of the Commerce Casino Thursday night with over $60,000 after winning event number one of the Commerce Casino's LA Poker Classic. Be sure to check out the interview with Dannie below.
The action at the final table began quickly. A few of the shorter players were eliminated in short order, and things started to get tense once the group got down to five. Play went on for a while five handed, while several of the players were really trying to get a deal done. Talks of deal were finally quashed, and it was clear play would go on. Shortly thereafter, Peter Nam opened for 24,000, and Dannie Perry quickly re-raised enough to put Nam all in. Nam reluctantly called with KQ, only to be crushed when Perry turned over AQ. An Ace on the flop made it all academic for day one chip leader Nam, who went out in 5th place.'
At that point, the four remaining players huddled up, and hashed out a deal that took longer than it probably should have. Final dollar amounts reflect the deal. Congratulations to all the winners.
<center>LA POKER CLASSIC EVENT ONE - $300 NLHE FINAL RESULTS</center>
1st Dannie Perry $60,000
2nd Henry Antanesian $40,000
3rd Danny Morgan $30,000
4th Noah Jefferson $23,000
5th Peter Nam $ 9,300
6th Van Nguyen $ 6,975
7th Mike Leslie $ 5,812
8th Frank Rite $ 4,650
9th John Hoang $ 3,487
10th Ross Kelly $ 2,557
La Poker Classic Winners Results
Interview with the winner, Dannie Perry.
PN: Where do you live, and what do you do?
Perry: I live in the Valley, and I am an entrepreneur. Luckily, I have a wife who is a doctor. She's been dealing with me with this tournament pursuit for quite a while now, and it's caused her some grief at times, but I think she'll be happy that I made some progress tonight.
PN: Is this your biggest cash to date?
Perry: Yes. This is the first significant event that I have cashed in.
PN: Any key hands you can think of during the two days that stand out?
Perry: Yes, two actually. There was a hand yesterday. We were down to three tables, and I was in the BB. A gentleman made a significant raise. I felt like I needed to start taking risks. I looked down at QJ. For some reason, I felt great about the hand. Normally, I would throw that hand away. Something told me to call, and I did. Turns out my opponent had KK, and I was way behind. Luckily I flopped a set of Queens. The turn was also a queen. After that I knew I was home free to get to the final table.
Then today, a gentleman made a pretty significant raise. I had A4, and I took another risk, and called. The flop came A4X, and it turned out he had QQ. The turn was another Ace. I got very lucky in this tournament, but you have to get lucky to win. I'm not as good as a lot of these guys.
PN: Where you going to put the trophy?
Perry: I think I will leave that up to my wife. She deserves it more than I do.