Wpt La Poker Classic 2018 Winner

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. Dennis Blieden has won the 2018 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event. The 28-year-old Vice President of Finance for marketing services and media company. Eight months later and Blieden entered the final table second in chips in the World Poker Tour (WPT) LA Poker Classic (LAPC), and once again an Englishman was sitting in pole position.

• Wpt La Poker Classic 2018 Winner Results
• Wpt La Poker Classic 2018 Winner Announced
• Wpt La Poker Classic 2019 Results

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.

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:

Player photo credits: Joe Giron / WPT.

Dennis Blieden has won the 2018 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event. The 28-year-old Vice President of Finance for marketing services and media company StyleHaul had only two prior live tournament cashes to his name, totaling less than $22,000. The LAPC was the first WPT main event he has ever entered, but after six days of action at the legendary Commerce Casino, he emerged victorious from a field of 493 entries with the title and the $1,000,000 first-place prize.

Blieden dominated the final table, winning over 50 percent of the hands played and knocking out all but one of his five opponents on the way to victory. It took only 79 hands to narrow the final table of six players down to a champion. He entered the day in second chip position behind Toby Lewis, a British poker pro who had won the 2018 Aussie Millions main event for $1,156,205 less than a month ago.

Wpt La Poker Classic 2018 Winner Results

Blieden overtook the lead by eliminating Manuel Martinez in sixth place ($186,235) and Peter Hengsakul in fifth place ($244,430) within the first 15 hands at the final table. Lewis and Blieden traded the lead a few times, but Blieden’s aggressive approach eventually saw distance himself from the pack. Lewis scored his lone knockout of the day by busting Marc MacDonnell in fourth place ($319,310), but by that time Blieden had built such a lead that he still had more than a 3-to-1 chip advantage over Lewis.

Lewis and Derek Wolters got tangled up in a big pot, with Lewis getting all-in holding the AK against Wolters’ KK. Lewis was in trouble, but flopped trip aces on to score a key double up and leave Wolters on fumes. Blieden eliminated him in third place shortly after to take just shy of a 4-to-1 lead on Lewis going into heads-up play.

After taking a short break, the final two players returned to play for the title. It took only two hands for Blieden to seal the deal. After winning a small pot on the first hand, Lewis opened to 120,000 from the button and Blieden reraised to 300,000. Lewis thought it oer before making it 750,000 to go. Blieden made the call and the flop brought the 663. Blieden checked and Lewis bets 400,000. Blieden made the call and the turn brought the Q. Blieden checked again and Lewis moved all in for 2,200,000. Blieden called with the AQ for queens and sixes, and was in great shape against Lewis’ 1010. The river brought the 6, securing the pot and the title for Blieden and sending Lewis to the rail as the runner-up.

Lewis earned $600,630 and 1,500 Card Player Player of the Year points for his strong showing. The Aussie Millions champion was already sitting atop the leaderboard in the 2018 POY race, but now he has a commanding lead in the standings with 3,780 points and $1,756,835 in year-to-date earnings. Blieden earned 1,800 POY points as the winner of this event, enough to see him move into sixth place in the rankings.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo courtesy of WPT / Joe Giron.

Wpt La Poker Classic 2018 Winner Announced

Wpt La Poker Classic 2019 Results