Wpt La Poker Classic 2018 Winner
- Wpt La Poker Classic 2019
- Wpt La Poker Classic 2018 Winner Results
- Wpt La Poker Classic 2018 Winner Spoiler
- Wpt La Poker Classic 2018 Winner Announced
Phil Hellmuth was up to his usual bratty self on Day Four at the $10,000 buy-in WPT LA Poker Classic at Commerce Casino on Tuesday. Dennis Blieden holds a big chip lead after Day Four at the 2018. The World Poker Tour (WPT) is a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting the final table of each tournament.
The 2018 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic title belongs to Dennis Blieden, and he's $1,000,000 richer for it. It took fewer than eighty hands of poker to get down from six to a winner.
Toby Lewis, fresh of his $10,000 Aussie Millions Main Event win, finished runner-up for just over $600,000.
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dennis Blieden | United States | $1,000,000* |
| 2 | Toby Lewis | United Kingdom | $600,630 |
| 3 | Derek Wolters | United States | $430,210 |
| 4 | Marc Macdonnell | Ireland | $319,310 |
| 5 | Peter Hengsakul | United States | $244,430 |
| 6 | Manuel Martinez | United States | $186,235 |
Wpt La Poker Classic 2019
Live streamed with hole cards up on a thirty-minute delay; the final table got underway with Toby Lewis in the lead, Dennis Blieden close behind in second place.
In the sixth hand of the day, short stack Manuel Martinez found queens and eventually got it in on a board of eight-eight-deuce-six with two hearts. Unfortunately for Martinez, Blieden had called from the big blind with eight-six and left Martinez with just two outs. Neither of the queens hit the river, and Martinez exited in sixth place for $186,235.
Blieden showed he had nerves of steel clashing with Marc Macdonnell in a pot worth 3.3 million.
That hand helped Blieden into the lead but he would give it back to Lewis not much later as the two clashed in a big hand. Lewis called down with pocket fives against Blieden's queen-nine off on a board of eight-three-deuce-ten-king to retake the position of tournament leader.
Wpt La Poker Classic 2018 Winner Results
Three hands later, Peter Hengsakul left the tournament area as he moved in his short stack with nine-eight suited. Blieden called with ace-seven of the same suit. The flop brought an ace, and Hengsakul was drawing dead by the time the turn hit, out in fifth place for $244,430.
In a four million pot, Blieden retook the lead as his flush with jack-eight of spades out performed Lewis' two pair with ace-five. That made for a tight-knit top three in counts, with just Derek Wolters staying behind.
Blieden showed he had nerves of steel clashing with Marc Macdonnell in a pot worth 3.3 million. Blieden bet the flop and turn with nothing but an unimproved ace-four on queen-eight-three-queen. The river ten brought in a backdoor hearts flush draw but Blieden had nothing but the ace of hearts blocker to that flush. Blieden checked and Macdonnell bet with ace-king with the king of hearts. Blieden went for the check-raise all in and Macdonnell quickly folded, leaving himself short while Blieden distanced himself from the rest of the field.
Sad but oh well. Dunno how much of a mistake the ak river bet is but it sure didn’t work too well. Gl to all the gu… https://t.co/BiVLWvx6Kn
— Marc Macdonnell (@sluglife87)Wolters doubled through Lewis hitting a jack with ace-jack to Lewis' ace-queen which made Marc Macdonnell the shortest stack still in the tournament. He was ultimately the next to go, exiting in fourth for $319,310. Macdonnell moved in with ace-seven and got called by Lewis with pocket nines. A nine on the flop just about ended it for Macdonnell and he got underway packing his things on the turn as he was left drawing dead.
Blieden started raising his button blind, putting out chips even before the cards were out.
Another check-raise all in on the river with nothing but ace-high, this time with the best hand but no way of knowing that, saw Blieden pass the ten million mark, leaving Lewis and Wolters at around two million.
Really pushing the action, Blieden started raising his button blind, putting out chips even before the cards were out. The first time, Wolters won a pot, but the second time he did take down the hand.
Getting short, Derek Wolters moved in with queen-seven suited. Blieden called with king-deuce and flopped a king to just about end it. He would even backdoor into a flush to send Wolters to the rail in third place for $430,210.
The heads-up started with Dennis Blieden on almost two hundred big blinds to Toby Lewis' fifty. Despite being quite deep and Lewis winning the first hand, it was all over in the next. With the blinds at 30,000 and 60,000, Lewis opened for 120,000. Blieden three-bet to 300,000 and he called the four-bet to 750,000 from Lewis that followed.
Lewis had just two cards left in the deck to stay alive but wouldn't see either on the turn.
Blieden check-called a bet of 400,000 on six-six-three with two spades holding ace-queen off. The queens of hearts on the turn saw Blieden check again. Lewis moved in for 2.2 million with pocket tens and Blieden called.
Lewis had just two cards left in the deck to stay alive but wouldn't see either on the turn. Instead the six hit; making both a full house but Blieden was the one to take it down.
Dennis Blieden had won the WPT LAPC, earning $1,000,000 including a $15,000 ticket to the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions. Blieden had just two cashes on his Hendon Mob before, with the biggest being $21,148 for his 13th place finish in last year's $5,000 at the WSOP. He's a WPT Champion now, his name inscribed on the one-and-only WPT Champions Cup.
Photos courtesy of Joe Giron of PokerPhotoArchive.com for the World Poker Tour
Tags
LAPCToby LewisDennis BliedenDerek WoltersMarc MacdonnellPeter HengsakulManuel MartinRelated Players
Toby LewisPeter HengsakulDerek WoltersMarc MacDonnellDennis Blieden
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 action, the field has been narrowed down to just six players left to battle it out for the title and the top prize of $1,000,000.
A champion won’t be decided in this event for nearly a month, as the final table doesn’t resume until 4:00 p.m. on April 2 at the HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. This is the third delayed final table of 2020 for the WPT, which introduced the new approach to filming their tournaments for televised broadcast in early 2019. The players that have made these delayed final tables will all have their travel accommodations and hotel stays covered by the WPT.
The chip leader heading into the final table is Balakrishna Patur with 6,320,000, which will be good for 158 big blinds when play picks up with betting limits of 20,000-40,000 and a 40,000 big blind ante. The Canadian’s largest prior live score was for $113,020, which he earned as the 11th-place finisher in the 2019 European Poker Tour Barcelona main event. The final six are all guaranteed to cash for at least $185,330, which means that Patur is in fantastic shape to dramatically increase his career live tournament earnings.
Matas Cimbolas will enter the final table in second chip position with 4,310,000 (108 big blinds). Cimbolas finished as the runner-up in this event in 2019, earning $646,930 for his strong showing in this event. The Lithuanian poker pro and 2014 partypoker WPT UK main event winner will have a chance to improve upon that finish when play resumes in April.
Hot on Cimbolas’ heels is two-time WPT champion James Carroll with 4,125,000 (103 big blinds). The 2014 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star and 2019 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown winner will be looking to become just the seventh player to win three or more main event titles on the tour.
The next largest stack belongs to Ka Kwan Lau, whose 2,250,000 will represent 56 big blinds when cards are next in the air. The Spanish player has seven-figures in prior live tournament earnings, including $390,424 earned as the fourth-place finisher in the 2013 EPT Prague main event. Regardless of where he finishes from here on out, his payday in this event will be at least the second-largest of his career.
Wpt La Poker Classic 2018 Winner Spoiler
Scott Hempel enters the final table in fifth chip position with 1,670,000 (42 big blinds). This is by far the biggest score on the Canadian’s tournament resume, with his largest previous cash being for $20,411.
Rounding out the final table is short stack Upeshka De Silva with 930,000 (23 big blinds). The Katy, TX resident is a three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, but will be looking for his first WPT title in this event.
Here is a look at chip counts of the final six players:
| Rank | Player | Chips |
| 1 | Balakrishna Patur | 6,320,000 |
| 2 | Matas Cimbolas | 4,310,000 |
| 3 | James Carroll | 4,125,000 |
| 4 | Ka Kwan Lau | 2,250,000 |
| 5 | Scott Hempel | 1,670,000 |
| 6 | Upeshka De Silva | 930,000 |
Player photo credits: Joe Giron / WPT.