2009 L.A. Poker Classic

$10,000 No Limit Hold'em Championship
Day: 5
Event Info

2009 L.A. Poker Classic

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k5
Prize
$1,686,260
Event Info
Buy-in
$9,600
Entries
696
Level Info
Level
35
Blinds
125,000 / 250,000
Ante
0

Game Reset for Ferguson

Chris Ferguson started the day by losing 500,000 chips. Ever since then, he's been floating between 1.0 and 1.2 million -- until a recent pot with Binh Nguyen. Ferguson check-called a bet of 90,000 from Nguyen with the board showing {Q-Diamonds} {5-Diamonds} {2-Clubs} {6-Clubs}, then checked again when the river fell {Q-Clubs}. Nguyen bet 150,000 but was put to the test when Ferguson moved all in for 715,000 total. He put his faith with his cards after thinking it over for a minute and called. Ferguson calmly turned over {K-Clubs} {9-Clubs}, having gone runner-runner for the flush. Nguyen mucked.

That pot doubled Ferguson up to 1.73 million, almost the exact count that he had at the beginning of the day. It's like he's starting fresh (apart from the fact that the blinds and antes have doubled since the start of the day). Nguyen is down to 1.07 million.

Tags: Binh NguyenChris Ferguson

Hyman Broken -- Zach Hyman Eliminated in 12th Place ($64,477)

It started out innocently enough for Zach Hyman. Action folded to him in late position, and he put in a raise to 85,000. Only the small blind, Blake Cahail, called the raise.

Cahail checked the {2-Spades} {5-Diamonds} {8-Spades} flop to Hyman, who made a large continuation bet of 215,000. Cahail check-raised all in for more than a million chips. Hyman had only 650,000 behind. He spent three minutes in the tank before calling all in with {10-Diamonds} {10-Clubs}. Cahail turned over {A-Spades} {A-Diamonds} for a very craftily played pair of aces. The turn {7-Clubs} and river {K-Hearts} were no help to Hyman. He's been eliminated in 12th place, earning $64,477.

Cahail now has 2.85 million in chips.

Tags: Blake CahailZach Hyman

25K Chips Introduced; Savage Issues Prop Bet

Pink, 25,000-denomination chips have been introduced into the field of play and we've noticed that those too, like the green 10k chips, are slightly larger in diameter than the rest of the chips on the table.

We asked Tournament Director Matt Savage about the size difference just to be sure we weren't seeing things, and he confirmed, offering the following prop bet:

Savage says he's willing to part with up to $20 -- an absolute freeroll -- if anyone can execute a perfect odd-even riffle using two full stacks of the big chips (20 chips in each stack, 40 chips in total). We'll let you know if any attempts are made.

Tags: Matt Savage

Ferguson Gets It in Best (Again) but Doesn't Win (Again)

It's been a trying day for Chris Ferguson. We've lost track of the number of times he's had his chips in the middle as the clear favorite without winning the hand. It happened again recently in a hand against Mike Sowers. The two players got the chips in the middle preflop. Ferguson was the player at risk of elimination, but he showed the best hand, {A-Diamonds} {J-Diamonds}. Sowers turned over {A-Hearts} {7-Clubs}. Ferguson's luck didn't turn on this hand, as the board came out all spades, {4-Spades} {J-Spades} {10-Spades} {6-Spades} {9-Spades}. With neither player holding a spade, the board played for both, resulting in a chopped pot.

Tags: Chris FergusonMike Sowers

Jeremy Kottler Eliminated in 13th Place ($57,796)

Jeremy Kottler - 13th Place
Jeremy Kottler - 13th Place
Jeremy Kottler was first to act on a flop of {2-Diamonds} {7-Spades} {K-Spades}. He moved all in for 230,000. Mike Sowers called the 230,000 before Binh Nguyen, the final of the three players to act in the hand, moved all in. Sowers quickly folded, allowing Nguyen the opportunity to eliminate Kottler.

Kottler: {A-Spades} {8-Spades}
Sowers: {K-Diamonds} {Q-Spades}

Kottler had an overcard and the nut flush draw against Nguyen's top pair, but his ship never came in. Neither the {J-Hearts} that hit the turn nor the {4-Diamonds} that fell on the river improved Kottler. He left the tournament in 13th place to a round of applause from the rail.

Tags: Binh NguyenJeremy KottlerMike Sowers

Level: 26

Blinds: 15,000/30,000

Ante: 5,000