World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic: Andras Koroknai Wins
After six days of action at the Commerce Casino for the World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic, a winner has been crowned. There were 745 hopefuls who hit the felt last Friday hoping they would walk away with the $1.7 million prize.
In the end, it was Hungarian Andras Koroknai who walked away with bragging rights. Not only that, but he also won a seat in the WPT World Championship in April, and of course the more than $1.7 million first-place prize. Koroknai becomes the first Hungarian to win a televised WPT Event.
Heads-up play was short and sweet. Koroknai had a 13-to-1 chip lead over his competitor, Raymond Dolan, who is the brother of professional poker player Tim Phan. The final hand had Koroknai move all-in from the button holding Q♥8♥. Dolan made the call with Q♣4♥ and saw that he was utterly dominated. The flop brought the only card Dolan was looking for when it came 10♥9♥4♦, but he wasn't out of the woods yet because Koroknai had picked up a flush draw. The turn brought the 7♠, giving Koroknai even more outs, and the river sealed the deal when the K♥ fell. Dolan took home $1,002,710 for his efforts.
First out from the final table was Michael Kamran who was followed by J.C. Moussa. Gevork Kasabyan was eliminated in fourth place when his A♠7♦ was no match for the A♣9♦ of Tri Huynh. Huynh flopped two pair, giving Kasabyan only the hope of a runner-runner miracle to stick around. The turn brought the 7♥ and Kasabyan was halfway there. The river however was no good when the 9♠ fell, filling up Huynh's boat. Huynh couldn't hold on to his momentum, however, and was eliminated in third place when his jacks were no match against Koroknai's ace-king.
1. Andras Koroknai -$1,788,040
2. Raymond Dolan - $1,002,710
3. Tri Huynh - $665,140
4. Gevork Kasabyan - $450,580
5. Jean-Claude Moussa - $321,840
6. Michael Kamran - $246,740
That's it for the 2010 LA Poker Classic. The next stop on the World Poker Tour is San Jose, Calif., for the Bay 101 Shooting Star.
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*Photo Courtesy of LAPCNews.com
