In this "Strip Poker" series, Card Player covers the Las Vegas poker scene – on The Strip and around the city.
The first-ever Caesars Palace Classic opened Friday and attracted huge fields filled with amateurs and big-name pros alike.
The first event was a $550 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament. Included in the 499 entrants were Brandon Cantu, Theo Tran, and a slew of Internet pros like Marc "leggggggggggy" Freund. The prize pool added up to $232,015, and Larry Merrit, from Las Vegas, took down the lion's share of it. He won just under $70,000 and a $10,000 seat into the $1 million-guaranteed main event.
The following event, which was a $1,060 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament, began on Saturday. Pros like James Van Alstyne and Steve Wong showed up, along with 261 other participants, which generated a prize pool of $245,110. Serge Gagnon of Jacksonville, Florida, took down the first-place prize of more than $78,000 and a seat into the main event.
The final table of event No. 3, a $1,500 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament, plays out its final table today, and event No. 4, another $550 buy-in event, starts at noon.
For a complete schedule of the Caesars Palace Classic, click here.
