681 players started the WPT – LAPC, 63 remain heading into Day 4, all 63 are in the money.  The buy-in was $10,000 creating a $6.54 million prize pool.  First place is $1.65 million. 

BluffMagazine.com

Jessica Welman | February 28, 2011

In big field events, there are almost always a few amateurs who sneak their way into a top ten finish or make a run to the final table. While there is still a ways to go at the LA Poker Classic Main Event and there are still amateurs in the field, this tournament has so far been a place for the pros to shine.

Day 3 of the $10,000 WPT event was no exception. The day began with 239 runners who had their eyes on surviving the day and making the money. By day’s end, only 63 remained and the top ten consisted entirely of full time poker pros.

Of the 63 players who survived the day, there are five WPT champions and nearly a dozen WSOP bracelet winners, one of whom is leading the pack as the only player heading into Day 4 with more than a million chips. Jason DeWitt won a WSOP bracelet last summer and is looking to add another title to his resume. He found a Day 3 foe in Allen Cunningham, as the two clashed in numerous big pots together. In the end, DeWitt ended on top as chip leader, while Cunningham was in fine chipe as well with an above average stack of 375,000.

There were plenty of rivalries around the tournament area on Day 3, including Michael Mizrachi and Michael DiVita, Jason Senti and James Carroll, and Phil Hellmuth and Steve Brecher, whom Hellmuth christened with the nickname “Over the Top.”

Brecher took advantage of position over the Poker Brat and survived the day while Hellmuth was one of the number of players to hit the rail. Other notable bustouts from Day 3 included Jason Mercier, Mike matusow, Nam Le, Phil Collins, Phil Ivey, Kara Scott, Tom Marchese, Shane Schleger, Bryn Kenney, Amit Makhija, and Barry Greenstein.

The need to play down to the money on Day 3 resulted in a long period of hand for hand play, which went on for two hours without an elimination. It looked as though Ted Jikov was going to be the unfortunate 64thplace finisher, as he was down to just three big blinds and had left the table to avoid the temptation of playing any hands. However, a cooler in which Hoyt Corkins picked up pocket queens to Mike Sowers’ pocket kings sent Corkins to the rail on the bubble and brought Day 3 to a close.

Sowers ended the day fifth in chips with 677,000 chips. He is used to being in this spot, having final tabled the PCA Main Event earlier this year. He also made the final table of this event two years ago. He is not the only player who has thrived at the Commerce still alive in the event. Michael Mizrachi won this event back in Season II of the WPT, but it will be an upward battle for him on Day 4, as he will begin with around 10 big blinds in his stack.

Other notables returning for Day 4 action include Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth, who ended the day second in chips with 993,000, David “Bakes” Baker, Shannon Shorr, Darryll Fish, Carlos Mortensen, Nikolay Evdakov, Dan Heimiller, Sam Stein, Jason Senti, Vivek Rajkumar, Steve Gross, Lauren Kling, Tim West, Daniel Alaei, Scott Seiver, Joe Hachem, Ryan Welch, Chad Batista, Kathy Liebert, and Ty Reiman.

As a result of the long day and late night on Day 3, Day 4 play’s start time has been pushed back to 1:30PM PT on Monday. When play resumes, blinds will be at 3,000-6,000 ante 1,000. Here are the top ten chip counts headed into Day 4 of play:

1. Jason DeWitt – 1,023,000
2. Richard Toth – 993,000
3. James Carroll – 843,000
4. David “Bakes” Baker – 702,000
5. Mike Sowers – 677,000
6. Shannon Shorr – 655,000
7. Matt Berkey – 625,000
8. Darryll Fish- 595,000
9. Nikolay Evdakov – 583,000
10. Carlos Mortensen – 557,000

Despite having a particularly good February, I recently finished a laughably terrible session at the 8-16 table.

Things were going poorly for the first hour of the session, though nothing notable really happened until this hand.  I was in middle-position, and action folded to me.  I raised with A-8 of clubs and got three callers.  The flop was Ad-Kc-6c.  Action checks around to me, and I, of course, bet.  The button calls me, as does the big-blind.  The turn is the 3h.  The big-blind checks, and I bet again.  The button calls, and now the big-blind check-raises.  I still like my hand, though the likelihood is that I’m behind at the moment.  Re-raising doesn’t do much considering I can raise his river bet if I like the card, and because folding isn’t an option, I call.  The river is a total blank, the 2h.  The big-blind bets into me.  I hate my hand, but have to make a crying call.  (That’s the nature of the limit game, I’m afraid…)  He rolls over 3d-3s, having turned a set.

Gross!!!  Ok, yes, he one-outed me.  The 3c is no good, and how can he call on that flop anyway?  But, in fairness, I did have a second opponent, and although that was the grossest of ways to lose, I could have lost with a turn King, Queen, Jack or Ten… or whatever the button was looking for.  It’s nasty, but let’s move on…

Another two hours pass with little more than a slow-bleeding of my chip stack until I pick up the hand that ends it.  I have 10-10 in early position and raise.  I get called only by one player, the same man who one-outed me with pocket threes earlier.  The flop is 10s-5s-4c.  I bet the nuts.  The button calls me.  The turn is the 2s.  I bet again.  This time the man raises me.  As I often do when I’m losing, I get gun-shy and just call.  Of course, in addition to being gun-shy, it’s altogether likely that my hand is now behind.  My plan is to check-raise a paired-board river, as I’m pretty confident he has the flush.  The river is the 4h.  Booyah!  I check, and he obliges me by betting.  I check-raise.  He three-bets.  I four-bet.  He five-bets, and, because I’m now all-in, I call.

He rolls over pocket fours!!!

Did that really just happen?  Did I just get one-outed by the same man, during the same session, in the same two hour period?

The answer is yes.  I went home after that hand…

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The next Minnesota State Poker Tour event will take place April 6-10 at Diamond Jo Casino, just over the Minnesota border in Northwood, Iowa. 

Diamond Jo is a hot spot for many southern Minnesota poker players and is popular for their no-limit Texas hold em cash games and live craps.

The MSPT is coming off the largest event held in Minnesota so far this year and fantastic attendance all week at Running Aces.  201 players entered the $1,000+$100 Main Event and Jason Seitz of Forest Lake took down the $56K first place prize.

With the MSPT making its first appearance in Iowa, many new players are expected to be introduced to the best tour and structure in the Midwest. 

Also, $250 qualifier seat FREEROLLS are back at Diamond Jo.  This was extremely popular at the MSPT Hinckley as over 200 players showed up during ice storms over two days to take their shot at earning 1 of 6 FREE $250 seats. 

To view the complete MSPT Diamond Jo schedule, visit:

http://minnesotastatepokertour.com/EventSchedule.php

Story provided by BLUFF, written by Jessica Welman

Maybe it is the slow structure, maybe it is because there were so many big names in the field to begin with, but for some reason the LA Poker Classic feels like it is jam-packed with some of the biggest names in the game.

Day 2 of the $10,000 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) event got underway on Saturday with a little over 500 survivors taking to the felt alongside 24 players who took advantage of the late registration policy and signed up before Day 2 began. By the time play began and registration did close, there were 681 total runners, officially making the tournament the biggest of WPT Season IX so far.

By day’s end there were 238 players still alive in the event and the top ten read like a veritable “Who’s Who of the Poker World List.” The name at the very top of the list may not be overly familiar to poker fans though. The chip leader, Joe DeNiro, is a longtime Commerce regular who has a pretty massive lead headed into the third day of play. He bagged and tagged 366,700 chips and was the only player to end the day over the 300,000-chip mark. In fact, his next closest competitor, James Carroll, is a little over 100,000 chips behind him with 264,800. Jason Senti rounds out the top three with 258,200 after a late day surge and some big pots against Dan Smith in the waning minutes of play.

Others thriving in the event include Mike Sowers, who final tabled this tournament two years ago, Michael Mizrachi, who won this event in Season 3, and Carlos Mortensen, one of the most successful players in WPT history.  Oh, not to mention Phil Ivey, who won this event in Season VI and rallied from as few as 13,000 chips midway through the day to end with over 70,000.

Those players thrived, but plenty of others saw their tournament come to an end during Day 2, including Liv Boeree, Matt Affleck, Johnny Chan, Joseph Cheong, Jonathan Little, Vanessa Selbst, Nenad Medic, Tony Dunst, and Tim Phan.

The plan for Day 3 is to play until the players reach the money. The top 63 finishers will each earn at least $22,230, while the winner will be taking home an impressive $1,654,120. Everyone who makes the final table is guaranteed at least $235,350.

Here are the top ten chip counts from the end of Day 2 of play:

1. Joe DeNiro – 366,700
2. James Carroll – 264,800
3. Jason Senti – 258,200
4. Mike Sowers – 252,500
5. Michael Mizrachi – 227,600
6. Nikolay Evdakov – 213,200
7. Carlos Mortensen – 204,900
8. Evan McNiff – 203,100
9. Allen Cunningham – 196,400
10. Ted Jivkov – 195,900

This Sears Tower of chips was submitted by Nick Reget. 

This photo was taken at Canterbury Park in an $8/$16 Limit game.  The size of the tower is estimated at 22 or 23 racks which equates to $4,4oo or $4,600 smackers. 

Well played!

Jason Seitz now sits on top of the POY leaderboard after his big MSPT Running Aces win.  The year is very young and players like Kye Longtin continue to rack up weekly cashes as he leads the state with four total. 

Matt “Craigslist” Kirby, aka “cadillacmatt54″ online, spent last weekend at the MSPT dominating qualifiers, earning a Main Event seat in 5 of 6 qualifiers he entered.  The main event wasn’t as kind to him as he busted out Day 1. 

He then spent Sunday online and went on to cash for $8,600 in FTOPS Event #44.  Three days later (last night) ”cadillacmatt54″ won the Full Tilt $28K Guaranteed for another $12K.  Due to his success over the last year, Kirby has climbed the Minnesota online rankings and cracked the top 10 this week for the first time.

Kirby hails from Bemidji and has recorded over $235K lifetime online winnings.

This sweet stack was submitted by Jacelyn Palmer.  Looks like this photo was taken at Running Aces. 

I never have enough chips to get this creative.  Well done, definitely sweet.