The L.A. Poker Classic is in full swing, but the high rollers of the online world still made sure to make an appearance in the three largest buy-in tournaments of the week.
Read the recaps for the $1K events on Full Tilt, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker below.
Full Tilt — $1K Monday
The $1K Monday event was way down this week to 355 entrants from 1,630 the week before, but that was to be expected following the conclusion of the FTOPS XI. The $355,000 prize pool easily cleared the $300,000 guarantee.
The final four tables were paid, meaning 36 players walked away with a profit. Daniel "imabigkidnow" Kelly wasn’t one of them, as he bubbled the tournament in 37th place. Those who did make the money were Jon "sketchy1" Eaton (36th), Full Tilt red pro Brandon Adams (35th), Steve "gboro780" Gross (34th), Ben "bmf823" Fineman (32nd), Jonathan "FatalError" Aguiar (30th), John "Skewp Troop" Clancy (25th), Evan "NEONPILS99" Parkes (24th), Benjamin "TheStein" Zamani (20th), Josh "doctorhowser" Norris (19th), Chris "baller11782" Martin (14th), Jason "Jcarver" Somerville (13th), Matt "Claw1980" Holtzclaw (11th), and James "Mig_com" Mackey, who bubbled the final table in 10th place.
The final table featured Patrick "PMJackson21" Jackson (sixth), Bahbak "bigredAK" Oboodi (third), Ryan "ryanwelch" Welch (second), and Alex "Kadabra" Keating (first).
Going into heads-up play, Keating held a 2-1 chip lead against Welch, and it wasn’t long before it was over. Both players got it all in on a flop of K
7
6. Welch held A A but was up against Keating’s 4 3 for a gutshot straight draw and flush draw. The turn and river came 8
and Q, giving Keating the winning flush and the tournament.
Here are the final table results:
- Alex "Kadabra" Keating — $88,750
- Ryan "ryanwelch" Welch — $56,800
- Bahbak "bigredAK" Oboodi — $42,600
- Jpaps18 — $32,838
- Renee1978 — $24,850
- Patrick "PMJackson21" Jackson — $17,750
- cruiser5917 — $11,538
- letters2006 — $8,875
- xx BabyGrand xx — $7,100
PokerStars Super Tuesday
A total of 352 players took a shot at the Super Tuesday tournament on PokerStars, barely clearing the $350,000 guarantee.
The tournament, which took just over eight hours to complete, paid out 45 places. Among the notables to cash were Stu "THE D0NATOR" Paterson (41st), govshark2 (40th), Chad "lilholdem954" Batista (39th), Todd "koolkeith13" Lewis (33rd), Geoff "GeoffRas22" Rasmussen (30th), Evan "DonkeyWrenn" Wrenn (29th), Greg "DuckU" Hobson (22nd), Daniel "dw2006" Woolson (20th), Justin "roothlus2" Levy (19th), Steve "thorladen" Weinstein (16th), Chris "cdbr3799" Dombrowski (13th), and Chris "Moorman1" Moorman (11th).
The final table featured Nick "CPT CRUX" Stowell (eighth), Alex "utahjazz33" Heller (fourth), Jerry "sandler1860" Payne (third), and Josh "Sdouble" Schlein (first). Stowell came into the final table with the chip lead but ran his K-Q into Schlein’s A-K to go out in eighth place.
Schlein got heads up with a 2.5-1 chip lead against HAPPYFAN, and the two eventually got it all in preflop. Schlein’s 8
6 outdrew HAPPYFAN’s A 4, and Schlein took home the $68,640 first-place prize.
Here are the final table results:
- Josh "Sdouble" Schlein — $68,640
- HAPPYFAN — $51,920
- Jerry "sandler1860" Payne — $38,720
- Alex "utahjazz33" Heller — $29,568
- Le_Liz@Rd — $20,240
- Hernan "HN Kakarato" Novick — $15,840
- krazieass — $12,320
- Nick "CPT CRUX" Stowell aka Colonel Mustard — $8,800
- Norm427 — $6,160
Absolute Poker $150,000 Guarantee
Absolute Poker drew only 140 entrants for this week’s $150,000 guaranteed tournament, meaning the site had to put up the $10,000 overlay.
The small field meant that only 18 places were paid to notables such as Scott "Nestofsalt" Wyler (18th), Steven "TheZadester" Levy (11th), Jonathan "Shipaholic" Delong (10th), Peter "Number1PEN" Neff (ninth), J.P. "MavFish" Kelly (eighth), Frank "Gator93" Hernandez (sixth), Chris "LEON_BLACK" Klodnicki (fifth), Jeremy "thechemist83" Gaubert (third), Shawn "SB129397" Busse (tie-first), and Michael "MikeIvey" Meredith (tie-first).
When play got heads up between Busse and Meredith, only a few thousand in chips separated the two. A by-the-chips chop was quickly agreed upon, giving both players nearly identical shares of the prize pool. This was the second "win" in two weeks for Meredith, who won this tournament outright on Feb. 4.
Here are the final tables results:
- Michael "MikeIvey" Meredith aka mman_status — $32,059*
- Shawn "SB129397" Busse aka jordankickz — $31,691*
- Jeremy "thechemist83" Gaubert — $17,625
- XX22XX — $14,250
- Chris "LEON_BLACK" Klodnicki aka SloppyKlod — $10,875
- Frank "gator93" Hernandez — $9,000
- Hizzank — $7,125
- J.P. "MavFish" Kelly — $5,250
- Peter "Number1PEN" Neff — $3,750
*Based on a heads-up chop at the final table.
