Poker News

Brian de Bruijn aka "RaiseMyNutss" became the second member of Team PokerNews WSOP when he won the first of eight $12,000 Team PokerNews WSOP Freerolls at Full Tilt Poker.

Brian battled for four hours and beat out 254 other players to claim the $12,000 Team PokerNews package, and will travel to Las Vegas in July to play at the world's largest and oldest poker tournament – the World Series of Poker Main Event. Not only did he win entry to the $10,000 No Limit Holdem Championship, but Brian also picked up $2,000 in cold hard cash for travel and accommodation – not bad for a few hours work!

If you don't have an account at Full
Tilt Poker, then you still have seven more chances to win a free $12,000 WSOP package. All of our Team PokerNews WSOP freerolls are exclusively for PokerNews players, so there are a few small things you have to do to be able to enter.

First you'll need to download Full Tilt Poker through our special PokerNews links and register a new account. Once you've signed up, you'll need to earn 300 Full Tilt Points in a specific time period for each WSOP freeroll you want to play – make sure you check out our Freerolls Page to find out the exact dates. Once you have fulfilled all the requirements, you will be automatically entered into the tournament 24-48 hours after the cutoff.

Our next $12,000 WSOP Freeroll at Full Tilt Poker is on March 24 at 20:00 EST, and you have until March 18 23:59 EST to fulfil all the necessary requirements. If you already have a Full Tilt Poker account and you signed up through PokerNews, you can enter all our Team PokerNews WSOP freerolls at Full Tilt Poker as long as you earn the necessary points.

We are adding new Team PokerNews Freerolls all the time so make sure you bookmark our Freerolls Page and find out how you could go to the WSOP for free!

Kairit Leobold hails from the tiny nation of Estonia, but finds herself heading to compete in the EPT event at Dortmund this weekend after beating players from all over the world to win the recent PokerProForAYear Global Freeroll at Pacific Poker.

Kairit is no stranger to poker as her husband Imre is an avid player as well. PokerNews caught up with Kairit just before she headed off to Germany.

PokerNews: How did you feel after winning the Global Freeroll?

Kairit: At first, I didn`t even realize what had happened. It was late at night and I watched Imre (my husband)
jumping and screaming, "You did it, Kairit, you really did it!" It took some time for me to join his party - it just felt absolutely unreal. I had just beaten 41 tough opponents and will now go to Dortmund to play the top pros in the EPT tournament – wow, somebody wake me up! (Fortunately no-one did!) After a glass of wine it started to feel REALLY good. The taste of victory and winning is so very sweet!

We have had many awesome poker trips overseas (Australia, Ireland, New Orleans, Las Vegas, St. Kitts, Deauville, and Tunica), but Imre has always been the one to win the package and take me with him. These trips are not about the chance to play big poker, but are also about spending great time together in interesting and romantic places. I'm very happy to be in the role of winning this gift for us this time!

Kairit will not be an easy target for the big stage poker pros - she has been winning at small-stakes games online consistently for the last 4 years and has also participated in many live poker tournaments, such as the 2006 WSOP Ladies Event.

Kairit: So far I have not had much success in live tournaments as for me they are more about having fun and a good time. But this one I have to take more seriously - you never know how often you will get a chance to play an event like this. I don`t feel like a total rookie anymore - if I catch good cards, anything is possible. But if the deck is cold, then I`ll probably be in trouble - I don`t believe my skill is good enough yet to beat all the top pros without some luck!

In Estonia Kairit has played 3 live tourneys and finished in the money twice. Kairit recently achieved her best result just a week ago, when she finished 4th at a Holdem Series side-event in Tallinn.

PokerNews: How ambitious are you as a poker player?

Kairit: "I am a competitive person, who really wants to know how it feels to hold a trophy after winning a big poker tournament. If I work on my game hard enough and sharpen my poker skills, then one day...who knows!

PokerNews: What do you do away from the poker table?

Kairit: I have a loving husband and 3 wonderful kids (7,6 and 3 years old). I love my family very much and like to do things with them. One day a week I give legal advise for abused women at a local shelter. Lately I have found a new passion, handycraft works - it just feels great to make nice little things with my hands!

PokerNews and Pacific Poker wish Kairit the best of luck as she takes on a star-studded field at the EPT Dortmund – stay tuned to PokerNews for our live coverage of this event.

A South African native playing in his first ever live tournament came from behind to beat one of the toughest pros in the world and win $2.4 million at the L.A. Poker Classic. Eric Hershler, a lawyer who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA stunned everyone on the rail at the Commerce Casino when he overcame pro JC Tran for the L.A. Poker Classic title. Hershler joined an elite group of previous winners that included Gus Hansen (2003), Antonio Esfandiari (2004), Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (2005), and Alan Goehring (2006).

A record number of 791 players bought into the L.A. Poker Classic, which set a record for the biggest prize pool in a $10,000 buy-in event on the World Poker Tour. After six
long and brutal days of poker, only six players remained. Hershler was by far the least inexperienced player at the table and oddsmakers listed him as a longshot to win it all.

Final Table starting chip counts:

1. JC Tran $3.47M
2. Paul Wasicka $3.39M
3. Jacobo Fernandez $3.37M
4. David Bach $2.07M
5. Eric Hershler $2.16M
6. Chau Giang $1.37M

Out of everyone at the final table, Paul Wasicka was the leader in lifetime career tournament earnings. After picking up a second place finish at the 2006 WSOP in Las Vegas, Wasicka collected over $6.4 million in tournaments. JC Tran earned almost $3 million total and that does not include online cashes. He won the Poker Stars WCOOP Championship at the end of 2006. Chau Giang won $2 million plus in tournaments. However, his overall lifetime winnings including cash games puts him over the top. He regularly plays in the Big Game in Las Vegas with Doyle Brunson, Bobby Baldwin, and Barry Greenstein.

The first half hour of play featured limited action from the table. There was only one hand that went to the river and was shown down. The pre-flop aggressor has been picking up pots through the first 15 hands or so with 180K or so being the standard raise. JC Tran increased the chip lead to over $4 million, while Chau Giang has slipped to 990K.

Tran scooped a $1.5 million pot on Hand #9. He raised 180K pre-flop and Jacobo Fernandez called. The flop was


and both players checked. When the
fell on the turn, Fernandez bet out 230K. Tran called. The river was the
. Fernandez checked and Tran bet 300K. Fernandez went into the tank for a few minutes before he called. Tran flipped over

for a pair of Aces, while Fernandez showed

for second pair.

By Hand #24, Tran had increased his stack to over 5M after he picked up several uncontested pots. He sensed that the table was paying tentative and took advantage early on.

On Hand #50, Chau Giang lost a big pot against Paul Wasicka to slip to under 700K. But two hands later, he doubled through David Bach when his

held up against Bach's

as Bach was crippled.

On Hand # 54, Eric Hershler made a move on Tran. The flop was


and Tran bet 300K. Hershler raised to 1M. Tran carefully watched Hershler as he put all his chips into the pot before he glanced at his big stack and mucked. Hershler picked up a pot worth close to 1M.

On Hand #69, the first player was eliminated from the final table. David Bach moved all in with his short stack of 205K. Eric Hershler, Jacobo Fernandez, and Chau Giang all called. The flop was


and everyone checked. The turn was the
and Hershler moved all in. Fernandez and Giang folded as Hershler tabled

for a set. Bach flipped over

for two pair. The turn was
and Hershler won the pot as Bach headed to the rail. David Bach from Athens, GA won $257,425 for 6th place. With five players left, Tran still held onto the chiplead with 6.2M.

On Hand #82, Chau Giang busted out after he moved all in for about 1M and JC Tran pushed all in with his monster stack. Giang said, "Game on."

Hershler, who thought about calling, mucked

face up. Giang flipped over

and Tran showed

. The flop was


and Giang took the lead and picked up a flush redraw. The turn was the
and the river was the
. Tran rivered a pair of Aces while Giang won $341,710 for 5th place. By that point, Tran's stack swelled to over 7M.

Hershler made another move against Tran on Hand #83. Tran raised 560K and Hershler sat and pondered a call. One female railbird from the audience screamed, "Go all in! Be a man!" That drew a not-so friendly reaction from Hershler who looked at his chips and moved all in for 1.45M. Tran peeked at his hand then mucked. Hershler's stack improved to over 2M. He picked up another million on the next hand against Paul Wasicka.

Tran headed over the 9M mark on Hand #88 after he busted Paul Wasicka in 4th place. Tran raised 600K pre-flop and Wasicka pushed all in with

. Tran called with

. The flop was


and Tran flopped a boat as the crowd went berserk. The turn and river did not help Wasicka and he won $455,615 for 4th place. With over 9M in chips, Tran held 56% of the total chips in play as Fernandez and Hershler both had less than the average stack of 5.2M

Tran headed over the 10 million mark and appeared to be on the way to a victory at the L.A. Poker Classic. That was until he doubled up Eric Hershler on two decisive hands. On Hand #96, Tran moved all in from the small blind and Hershler called with

for about 1M. Tran flipped over

. The flop was


. The turn and river did not help Tran as Hershler doubled up to 2M.

Two hands later, Hershler struck again. He moved all in from the button and Tran called. Hershler showed

and Tran showed

. The flop was


and all of Tran's railbird's screamed for a Queen. The turn was
and the river was
. Hershler doubled up again against Tran to over 4M. Tran's stack slipped to 7.4M as he lost momentum.

On Hand #102, Fernandez raised 1M and Eric Hershler smooth called. The flop was


and Hershler checked while Fernandez bet 1M. Hershler moved all in for 1.92M. Fernandez sat and analyzed Hershler's check-raise for several minutes before he mucked

face up. Hershler showed

and picked up a 3M pot. Fernandez slipped into the shortstack with 1.7M.

Three hands later, Fernandez moved all in with

and Hershler called with

. The flop was


. Hershler's set of Aces were good enough to win after the turn and rivered bricked up for Fernandez. That hand put Hershler into the chiplead with over 8.5M. Fernandez headed to the rail in third place and won $607,490.

When heads-up play began, Tran trailed Hershler by 8.5M to 7.12M. It would only take one hand to determine a champion. Hershler limped and JC Tran raised 700K. Hershler called. The flop was


. Tran bet 1.2M and Hershler moved all in. Tran instantly called and showed

for top pair, while Hershler flipped over

for two pair. The turn was the
and the river was the
, which did not help Tran. JC Tran was eliminated in second place while Eric Hershler won the L.A. Poker Classic along with $2,429,970 and a $25K seat in the WPT Championship at the Bellagio in April. Even though he came in second, JC Tran still won $1,177,010.

Here are the final table money winners:

1 Eric Hershler $2,429,970
2 JC Tran $1,177,010
3 Jacobo Fernandez $607,490
4 Paul Wasicka $455,615
5 Chau Giang $341,710
6 David Bach $257,425

Congrats to Eric Hershler for his $2.4 million score. Don't forget to check back at Poker News for videos, pictures, and Hand-in Depth coverage.

54 players returned to the Commerce Casino for the fourth day of action at the L.A. Poker Classic main event. By Midnight, only 18 players remained and JC Tran leaped out in front of the pack with a massive $3.46 million stack, which was almost as much as second, third and fourth places… combined. In less than eight hours of play, Tran started with 636K and amassed almost three million in chips.

The money bubble burst late on Day 3, and every returning player was guaranteed at least $22,780 in prize money. You figured that the entrants would be thrilled to make the money, but several players including pros complained at the top-heavy structure, where first place and second place will take home a
combined 44% of the total prize pool. The final TV table's combined cut is almost two-third of the total $7.9 million prize pool.

In a top-heavy tournament such as the L.A. Poker Classic, players tweak their strategy a little knowing that there's very little difference between 54th and 24th place's prize money. As soon as the money bubble burst, there was a series of quick bustouts. Smaller stacks who had been hanging on hoping to squeak into the money finally loosen up and made moves. Since play ended last night just as the bubble broke, the first level of Day 4 featured a series of rapid fire eliminations. 21 players began Day 4 above the average stack of 293K. The remaining 33 were below average with ten players under 100K in chips. The short stacks had no choice but to aggressively pick and hand and move all-in.

Bill Edler entered the Day 4 as the chipleader with Jason Strasser not far behind in second place. Edler has a reputation of being one of the nicest guys on the tournament circuit. He's a patient player with solid fundamentals. He admits that his biggest leak is that he has issues with mathematics. Edler is meticulous about keeping his stacks in a specific order and size, and can often seen trading chips with other players to maintain a uniformity of chip stacks and colors. When asked about this behavior he answered, "I'm not very good at math. Earlier today I forget whether I had 260,000 or 360,000. The well ordered stacks are because I can't count."

Jason Strasser was the first player to pass the $1 million chip mark on Day 4 after he busted Gary Kainer in 44th place. Bill Edler soon followed suit and joined the $1 million club after he scooped one of the biggest pots of the tournament off of Isaac Haxton. Haxton had trip Queens, but Edler had flopped a set, then turned a full house with

.

JC Tran slowly built up his stack to $1 million when he rivered a runner-runner flush against Chris Bell. He busted Sung Yi in 24th place, and with 21 players left in the field, he had $1.3 million and a slight lead over Jason Strasser. Tran became the first player to rush past the $2 million as he took advantage of the short-handed tables and bullied everyone in his path. With a series of well-timed re-raises in position, Tran accumulated chips by winning several pots pre-flop. With a big stack, he was able to see plenty of flops and outplayed everyone at his table post-flop.

"Everything I've been doing has been working out," Tran explained. "I go with the flow and whatever is working, I stick with it. I've hit some flops and I'm running good."

Tran surpassed the $3 million mark when he eliminated Hans "Tuna" Lund in 20th place. Lund had Tran dominated when he flopped a King with Big Slick. With

, Tran flopped an 8 and smooth called Lund's flop bet of 150K. The turn was another 8 and Tran bet out 250K. Lund quickly pushed all in and Tran could not have called faster with trip 8s. The river did not help Lund as he headed to the rail. At that point, no one at Tran's table wanted to tangle with his monster stack.

Kristy Gazes cashed in her sixth straight event. She had been limiting her tournament play which she credited to her recent run. She picked up chips early when she busted Greg "FTB" Mueller with

against his

. She was never near the top of the leaderboard and hovered around average for most of Day 4. Her tight image allowed her to occasionally pick up chips against her opponents to stay alive.

Gazes avoided slipping into tiltdom when she became the short-stack at her six-handed table. On a board of



, Gazes faced a 100K bet from Ben Johnson and went into the tank. After only two minutes, Johnson called the clock on Gazes. She folded, but was visibly unhappy about having the clock called on her when so many players, including a few at her table, had been stalling in later stages of the evening.

"I'm a professional," she sternly said to Johnson. "Have you ever seen me stall in this tournament? We're playing for $2 million here, how about you let me make a decision?"

Gazes eventually regained her composure and survived Day 4. She ended up 16th in chips with a little over 300K.

CK Hua busted out in 19th place as play was suspended for the day. The final 18 players will return on Day 5 and play down to the final six.

Here are the end of Day 4 chipcounts:

1 JC Tran $3,461,000
2 Jacobo Fernandez $1,334,000
3 Jason Strasser $1,196,000
4 Bill Edler $1,160,000
5 Tad Jurgens $1,059,000
6 Benjamin Johnson $1,055,000
7 David Bach $985,000
8 Chau Giang $813,000
9 Paul Wasicka $806,000
10 Eric Hershler $745,000
11 Chris Bell $636,000
12 Vincent Procopio $512,000
13 Joseph Cordi $512,000
14 Richard Munro $371,000
15 Jay Chang $333,000
16 Kristy Gazes $307,000
17 Juan Alvarado $282,000
18 Shan Jing $266,000

Here's a current list of Day 4 money winners:

19 CK Hua $45,560
20 Hans "Tuna" Lund $45,560
21 Suk Sung $45,560
22 Nam Le $45,560
23 Nick Schulman $45,560
24 Sung Yi $45,560
25 Isaac Haxton $45,560
26 Jeff Cabanillas $45,560
27 Babak Razi $45,560
28 Matthew Gianetti $35,690
29 Lee Markholt $35,690
30 Markus Stranzinger $35,690
31 Ted Lawson $35,690
32 Sean McCabe $35,690
33 Joe Awada $35,690
34 John Galbraith $35,690
35 John Little $35,690
36 Michael Carson $35,690
37 Roland Weedon $28,855
38 Daniel Idema $28,855
39 Avdo Djokovic $28,855
40 Lester Naquin $28,855
41 Robert Nehorayan $28,855
42 Greg "FTB"Mueller $28,855
43 Edward "Bolivia" Moncada $28,855
44 Gary Kainer $28,855
45 Richard Tatalovich$28,855
46 Jeffrey Anderson $22,780
47 Nhut Minh Tran $22,780
48 Dan Harmetz $22,780
49 Alan 'Bodog Ari' Engel $22,780
50 Peter Getten $22,780
51 Stan Jablonski $22,780
52 Steve Yoon $22,780
53 Daniel Woodward $22,780
54 Nick Binger $22,780

The average stack is $659,166.

Action for Day 5 at the L.A. Poker Classic resumes at 3:30 P.M. local time in the ballroom at the Commerce Casino. Stop by and check out our live reporting updates, including chip counts, photos, videos, and more.

With 152 players remaining in the L.A. Poker Classic, the tense atmosphere in the ballroom at the Commerce Casino added to the looming pressure. With $2.4 million at stake, players did not want to make any crucial mistakes as they raced towards the money bubble.

The top 54 places paid prize money and many of the players expressed their unhappiness over the sparse amount of payouts. Usually for a 791 person tournament, the Top 10% are awarded prize money to the players making it to the final 8 or 9 tables. The tournament staff and World Poker Tour wanted to guarantee a first place prize of $2 million which was the reason why the prize pool was top heavy with second pace slated to win $1,177,010.
Every player who advances to the final TV table is guaranteed at least $257,000.

Of course, the pressure to finish in the top 54 did not faze some grizzled pros such as Chau Giang, who was engrossed in a deep massage at his table with a pack of Marlboro Lights next to his chip stack. Only twenty minutes into Day 3, Giang appeared extremely spent after a late night at the cash game tables in the Commerce Casino poker room.

JC Tran was involved in the most decisive hand on Day 2 with Joe Sebok which gave him the chiplead. However, early on in Day 3, Tran found himself involved in another big pot where he bluffed that lead away. On a board of


, Tran checked and Jacobo Fernandez bet 10K. Tran quickly check-raised to 30K. Fernandez minimum raised to 60K. Tran called. The turn was the
and the board exposed a possible flush. Tran checked and Fernandez took about five minutes to make a decision before he also checked behind. The
fell on the river and Tran put out a bet that was more than the rest of Fernandez's stack. Fernandez went back into the tank for what seemed like ten minutes before he called. Tran turned up

for a flat out bluff with just Ace high, while Fernandez turned over

for the winner.

A stunned Tran could not believe that Fernandez called with a possible straight and a possible flush on the board. That pot was over 400K as Fernandez doubled through Tran and emerged as the new chipleader while Tran slipped to under 350K.

Fernandez, who does not speak English very well, said through an interpreter, "I knew when (Tran) bet a lot on the river, that he was bluffing. I feel good. Very good. I want to win this tournament."

Fernandez's run continued a few hands later when he busted Ari Goott after both players flopped sets; Fernandez with Q-Q and Goott with J-J. Both tried to slow play each other on the flop and turn. When Fernandez shoved all in on the river, Goott called thinking he was ahead. He wasn't and headed to the rail as Fernandez's stack tipped over 590K.

The 2006 WSOP Main Event runner-up, Paul Wasicka, continued to prosper on Day 3. Shortly before the dinner break he amassed a stack worth over 350K, then jumped over the 500K mark after he busted Joe Tehan with a King high flush.

After 25 players busted out, the first lull of the day set upon the ballroom. With several of the smaller stacks out of the way, slow and methodical poker ensued over the next level. It was not an all-in push monkey festival like the one that went on during the 2006 WSOP Main Event. The ballroom was relatively quiet with the exception of the clattering of chips and the lone cigarette girl wandering though the tables hawking her goodies.

Kristy Gazes lost a big pot early and admitted that she needed help.

"I gotta get unstuck!" she said before she was moved to the same table as Bill Edler. The two dominated their table as Edler crushed the competition and ran his stack up to 380K while Gazes managed to pick up 225K in chips before the dinner break. Not only was Gazes the last female remaining in tournament, she was also attempting to cash in her sixth straight event.

"I think it's because I'm playing less, so I'm enjoying this more," Gazes explained. "I'm trying to play slow and smart and avoid making mistakes."

In the first level after the dinner break, Tran got some of his chips back from Fernandez as the two went to battle once again. On a board of




, Fernandez bet 20K and Tran raised to 50K. Fernandez sat and thought about his next move for several minutes before he called. Tran flipped over

for a full house and Fernandez tossed his losing hand into the muck. Tran seized the chiplead from Fernandez as his stack jumped up to 540K. Fernandez slipped to 415K.

When play reached nine tables, the action slowed down considerably as it took almost two hours for ten players to bust out. Chau Giang entertained his table by recanting gambling tales involving high stakes betting on a round of golf. He flew to Mexico with Bobby Baldwin, Phil Ivey, and Doyle Brunson. They played golf with NBA legend Michael Jordan for 50K per hole.

"I'm not good. I don't play," admitted Giang. "I'm just there to gamble."

About twelve places off the money bubble, Paul Wasicka made the call of the day, perhaps of the entire tournament. From the small blind, Wasicka raised preflop to 22K and was heads up with Parimal Parmar, who called from the big blind. On a flop of


, Wasicka checked, Parmar bet 24K and Wasicka called. When the
fell on the turn, Wasicka checked, Parmar bet 51K, and Wasicka called. When the
fell on the river, Wasicka checked and Parmar bet out 150K or roughly 75% of his stack. Wasicka thought for a minute or two before he called with

. Parmar tossed his hand into the muck as Wasicka made a sick call. That hand pushed Wasicka over the 800K mark as he picked up the chiplead.

Wasicka slowly edged his way over the $1 million chip mark by busting small stacks and bullying his table. He finally took his first major hit courtesy of Jason Strasser. The Duke University student was shortstacked for most of the evening until he found K-Q and moved all in. Wasicka woke up with 9-9, but Strasser flopped one of his overcards to double through Wasicka. Strasser moved up to 425K, while Wasicka slipped to a little over 800K. Although Wasicka still held the chiplead, the margin was a slim one over Bill Edler who grinded his way to 750K. Wasicka coughed up the chiplead close to the bubble when he lost a 600K pot.

Strasser, who was seated at Wasicka's table for most of the night, made a late push for the top spot in chips after he scooped a pot worth over 300K. With about 100K in the pot on a board of




, Strasser bet 100K. His opponent went into the tank for seven minutes before he reluctantly called. Strasser flipped over

for two pair and his opponent mucked.

With 56 players remaining, the lone Aussie left in the tournament, Jimmy Sachindis was on life support. He had just 7K left when he found

in the small blind. The cutoff raised and Sachindis moved all in. Card dead for most of the evening, he angrily slammed his two black aces on the table and let an F-bomb slip. His aces held up and he won a 37K pot. Unfortunately, Sachindis was given a ten minute penalty from the tournament directors for using the F-word.

A couple of hands later, Kristy Gazes woke up to find

. She moved all in pre-flop and Andrew Scheinman called with

. Gazes' pocket rockets held up as she doubled up to over 300K. With Andrew Scheinman's 56th place elimination, play was hand-for hand on the bubble.

The mood in the room was apprehensive, yet exciting with all eyes on Jimmy Sachindis' miniscule stack. He eventually pushed all in with

against Markus Stranzinger's

as sea of media, floor staff, players, and railbirds hovered over their table. Although Sachindis held the dominant hand, Stranzinger flopped a five to seal Sachindis' fate as the Bubble Boy. The Aussie headed to the rail in 55th place as the remainder of the field advanced into the money. All 54 remaining players are guaranteed to win $22,780.

Without a doubt, the comeback player for Day 3 was Tad Jurgens. He started the day 152 out of 152 with only three big blinds remaining. He doubled up in the first orbit and never looked back. Not only did he make the money, he finished the day with over 500K.

Bill Edler, Jason Strasser, JC Tran, and Paul Wasicka all advanced to Day 4 and are among the Top 10 in chips. Also making the cut were CK Hua, Greg "FBT" Mueller, JC Tran, Chris Bell, Joe Awada, Ed Moncada, Vincent Procopio, Alan "Bodog Ari" Engel, Nam Le, Chau Giang, Isaac Haxton, Kristy Gazes, Nick Schulman, and Lee Markholt.

Noteworthy eliminations on Day 3 included: Barry Greenstein, Erik Seidel, Minh Ly, Ted Forrest, Crispin Leyser, Toto Leonidas, Daniel Alaei, Steve Brecher, Brian Haveson, Ali Eslami, Anthony Mak, Jesse Jones, Quinn Do, Dan Schmeich, Joe Tehan, Nenad Medic, Steve Dannenmann, Lori Conn, Eugene Todd, Parhlad Friedman, Tim Phan, and Matthew Szymaszek.

The official chip counts for the event are:

EDLER WILLIAM 696,000
STRASSER JASON 677,000
SUNG SUK 668,000
TRAN JC 636,000
ALVARADO JUAN 634,000
MUNRO RICHARD 631,000
WASICKA PAUL 619,000
JURGENS TAD 598,000
HUA CAN 597,000
BELL CHRISTOPHER 570,000
CABANILLAS JEFF 515,000
SCHULMAN NICHOLAS 515,000
HAXTON ISAAC 473,000
CHANG JAY 463,000
LUND HANS 463,000
MARKHOLT LEE 388,000
STRANZINGER MARKUS 388,000
GAZES KRISTY 339,000
LAWSON TED 330,000
MONCADA EDWARD 323,000
AWADA JOE 300,000
GIANG CHAU TU 283,000
IDEMA DANIEL 279,000
NAM LE 276,000
CORDI JOSEPH 275,000
FERNANDEZ JACOBO 218,000
MCCABE SEAN 214,000
NAQUIN LESTER 199,000
GIANNETTI MATTHEW 197,000
HERSHLER ERIC 192,000
LITTLE G. JOHN 185,000
JOHNSON BENJAMIN 181,000
ENGEL ALAN 177,000
KAINER GARY 158,000
WEEDON ROLAND 158,000
YI SUNG 156,000
RAZI BABAK 155,000
PROCOPIO VINCENT 150,000
HARMETZ DANIEL 142,000
BACH DAVID 137,000
DJOKOVIC AVDO 130,000
YOON STEVE 126,000
NEHORAYAN ROBERT 105,000
JING SHAN 102,000
MUELLER GREG FBT 97,000
JETTEN PETER 87,000
TATALOVICH RICHARD 87,000
GALBRAITH JOHN 86,000
TRAN NHUT MINH 86,000
BINGER NICK 84,000
CARSON MICHAEL 84,000
WOODWARD DANIEL 80,000
JABLONSKI STAN 75,000
ANDERSON JEFFREY 70,000

Action for Day 4 at the L.A. Poker Classic resumes at 3:30 P.M. local time in the ballroom at the Commerce Casino. Stop by and check out our live reporting updates, including chip counts, photos, videos, and more.

368 players returned to Commerce Casino for the L.A. Poker Classic with their thoughts on one thing: the $2.4 million first place prize. 152 players would survive the day and advance to the next day of play. Action moved along at a quick pace and tournament director Cheri Dokken decided to end Day 2 at Midnight. Originally, the day was supposed to end at 3:30am but tables were breaking faster than anticipated.

Joe Sebok started Day 2 as one of the chipleaders with a healthy stack of 200K, despite shrugging off an ankle injury which he had gotten early on Day 1. Just before the dinner break, Gavin Smith had busted out which meant that Sebok won a last longer prop bet with Smith. The loser would
have to get the winner's initials tattooed on their rear end. Smith headed to the rail with a sick feeling in his stomach that when they two returned to Las Vegas, that Smith would eventually have to get "J.S." branded on him for the remainder of eternity.

Sebok took a hit early on after he doubled up one of the players at his table and then lost a pot to Miami John Cernuto. He built his stack back up and remained one of the chipleaders until he was involved in one of the most decisive hands of the tournament with JC Tran. In the biggest pot of the tournament, Sebok was eliminated by JC Tran. Sebok turned a Queen high flush with Qd-8d, while Tran had two pair with Kc-10h. When the 10c spiked on the river, Tran picked up a full house. All the money went in on the river as Tran scooped the monster pot worth over 500K as Sebok quietly headed to the rail. Tran became the first player to cross the half of a million mark and ended Day 2 as the chipleader..

After the Sebok hand, Tran put himself in a good spot to make another final table. Tran had been waiting for over a year for another shot at the LA Poker Classic title. He finished in 5th place at the 2006 event. He began the final table as the chipleader, but got his pocket Aces cracked by eventual winner Alan Goehring's 5-5. Tran led all the way and even picked up a flush draw which meant only one card in the deck could help Goehring. Unfortunately, Goehring spiked a one outer as Tran busted out in 5th winning over $246,000.

The online players emerged as some of the players to beat at this year's L.A. Poker Classic. Online cash game guru Prahlad Friedman showed off his tournament skills as he amassed a stack, while Alan "BoDogAri" Engel ended Day 2 near the top of the pack in chips. His day was running so well that he flopped quads on one hand with his opponent pushing their entire stack all in against him.

"I'm trying to play small pots," said BoDog Ari. "And I'm trying to play my game. I'm treating this like any other tournament. I play more than anyone I know so I'm treating this like one of the 20 a day that I play."

Duke University student Jason "Strassa" Strasser had a quiet day as he slowly built up his stack until he caught a lucky flop against Michael Binger. Strasser was all in preflop with Q-Q against Binger's pocket Aces. Strasser flopped a set of Queens to send Binger to the rail as that hand pushed him into the Top 10 in chips. The beat was so bad that it took Binger several beers to calm him down as he recanted the bad beat to anyone in the casino who would listen as he referred to Strasser as "that internet player who cracked my pocket Aces."

Several other players had their aces cracked at the LAPC as they headed to the rail including Mike "The Mouth" Matusow. On Day 1, Daniel Negreanu busted out after get his A-A cracked twice in the last three hands he played.

Players eliminated on Day 2 included Gavin Smith, David Chui, Kathy Liebert, Mark Newhouse, Shane "Shaniac" Schleger, Chad Brown, Mike Matusow, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, David Plastik, Allen Kessler, Erick Lindgren, Carl Olson, Tony Ma, Men the Master, Todd Brunson, Harry Demetriou, Robert Mizrachi, David Benyamine, Phil Laak, Shannon Shorr, Maria Ho, Joe Cassidy, Freddy Deeb, Patrik Antonius, Young Pham, Michael Binger, Haralabos Voulgaris, Joe Sebok, Isabelle Mercier, Erica Schoenberg, Joe Bartholdi, Capt. Tom Franklin, Sean "Sheiky" Sheikhan, and Martin De Knijff.

Several seasoned veterans survived the cut including Chau Giang, Barry Greenstien, Minneapolis Jim Meehan, Ted Forrest, C.K. Hua, Minh Ly, Jesse Jones, Joe Awada, Bill Edler, Kristy Gazes, Ed Moncada, The Grinder, Steve Brecher, Erik Seidel, and Max Pescatori.

JC Tran's stack hovered around 543K at the end of Day 2, while Michael Carson, Sean McCabe, Lee Markholt, C.K. Hua, Chau Giang, Jason Strasser, and Bill Edler were among the Top 20 in chips.

Selected chip counts are below.152 players begin day three on a quest for $2.4 million, and a WPT title.

TRAN JC 543,700
YOON STEVE 319,800
CARSON MICHAEL 318,100
ENGEL ALAN 280,200
MCCABE SEAN 272,600
MARKHOLT LEE 240,300
HUA CAN 227,100
GIANG CHAU TU 224,200
TEHAN JOSEPH 207,500
STRASSER JASON 175,900
EDLER WILLIAM 174,700
DAVIS RAYMOND 172,000
WASICKA PAUL 165,700
FRIEDMAN PHAHLAD 164,200
NAM LE 160,300
MONCADA EDWARD 152,600
BELL CHRISTOPHER 144,500
PHAN LOI V 140,700
GREENSTEIN BARRY 125,600
MUELLER GREG FBT 119,500
FORREST TED 115,700
EATON JONATHAN 113,700
GAZES KRISTY 109,900
MCCLAIN MICHAEL 103,900
SHULMAN JEFF 103,800
SCHMIECH DANIEL 96,600
LUND HANS 92,000
LEYSER CRISPIN 87,400
LY MINH 83,700
DANNENMANN STEVEN 75,000
LAWSON TED 73,500
SCHULMAN NICHOLAS 70,300
MEDIC NENAD 69,600
WALNUM ANDREAS 69,500
JONES JESSE 69,200
ALAEI DANIEL 65,700
AWADA JOE 58,700
HAVESON BRIAN 57,300
AARONSON KEVIN 57,000
BRECHER STEVEN 56,900
DO QUINN 55,300
MIZRACHI MICHAEL 49,900
TATALOVICH RICHARD 48,300
SEIDEL ERIK 47,200
NGUYEN MINH 44,800
JEFFERSON NOAH 32,800
LEONIDAS ALFREDO 28,700
KARAGULLEYAN CHRIS 25,500
TODD EUGENE 14,100

Action for Day 3 at the L.A. Poker Classic resumes at 3:30 P.M. local time at the Commerce Casino. Stop by and check out our live reporting updates, including chip counts, photos, videos, and more.

The largest and most prestigious tournament in California kicked off on Saturday at Commerce Casino outside of Los Angeles with the L.A. Poker Classic championship main event, which also happened to be the latest stop on the World Poker Tour. 791 players bought in for $10,000 each for a shot at the coveted $2.4 million first place prize. Everyone who makes the final table is guaranteed to win at least $250,000.

When Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi won the event in 2005, he outlasted 538 players. Last year's winner Alan Goehring bested 692 players. This year's winner will have to play near perfect poker for six days while avoiding the existentialist meat-grinder of suckouts and bad beats from both
seasoned pros and amateurs.

The top 54 players this year will make the money in a prize pool worth over $7.9 million. That makes the 2007 L.A. Poker Classic the largest $10,000 buy-in event in the history of the World Poker Tour. The event had so many players that the grand ballroom on the second floor was unable to host all of the players, as the staff utilized tables down on the casino floor and outside in tents on the veranda. By the end of the day, 368 players out of the original 791 would advance to Day 2.

The tournament directors decided on a late start time of 3:30 P.M. and to limit play to 12 hours a day, which meant action would go until 3:30 A.M. the first few nights. The structure favored night owls and poker pros who normally slept during the days and stayed up until dawn. Each level was 90 minutes in length with chip stacks starting at 20,000.

"Commerce rocks," said Daniel Negreanu. "The structure here is better than any place on the World Poker Tour."

One of the first players to bust out was 2006 WSOP Champion Jamie Gold in one of his first major tournament appearances since he settled a lawsuit with Crispin Leyser. Daniel Negreanu would also head to the rail early after he had pocket Aces brutally cracked twice in the last three hands he played. Both times he had his money in against two junks hands who promptly hit their draws.

Joe Sebok jumped out to a massive lead when he busted Amir Vahedi. Sebok needed the chips too because he has a prop bet with Gavin Smith. The two friends have a last longer where the loser has to get the winner's initials tattooed on their bare bottom. The two have recently engaged in bizarre prop bets such as who can ride a mechanical bull the longest and who could be subjected to Chinese water torture without cracking.

Sebok was also playing injured after he sprained his ankle during the first break. Most players call their friends or family on cell phones on breaks. Others rush off to the bathroom, while the smokers flock outside to quell their nicotine fits. However, Sebok engaged in some random horseplay during an unusual moment when he hurt himself while wrestling around with some friends.

"It's sad," he said, "I have some ice which is very, very necessary because it hurts a lot. It's a Tale of Two Ankles. If I do not win this tournament, I'm going to use the ankle as an excuse."

By Midnight, 250 players were eliminated with three and a half hours of play left in the first day of action. That's when Sebok's stack topped over 100K as he became the first player to pass that milestone as he appeared to still be in obvious pain.

Jennifer Tilly accumulated chips early on when she busted two players on the same hand. Tilly flopped trips with 9-4s and eliminated Farzad Bonyadi in the process. She would not be able to hold onto the lead and busted out late into the session after a wicked bad beat from Daniel Alaei. On a flop of A-K-x, Tilly moved all in with A-J. Alaei called with Q-Q and spiked another queen on the turn to take her out. She promptly rushed over to her boyfriend's table and recanted the bad beat to Phil Laak, who did his best to console her.

As play reached 2 A.M., the majority of the payers in the room showed obvious signs of fatigue as action slowed to a snail's pace. The incessant conversation in the ballroom dulled down and only the clatter of the chips were the prominent sounds in the room. Even Mike "The Mouth" Matusow was unusually subdued. Of course, the real action at that time is downstairs in the poker room where the cash games were in full swing for a Saturday night in the City of Angels. The cash games are always juicy at Commerce, but during the L.A. Poker Classic, the action gets a little more interesting when all the Las Vegas pros come to town along with pros from all over the world who want to feast on the local fish with deep pockets.

Last year's winner Alan Goehring did not make it to Day 2, so there will not be a repeat winner at the L.A. Poker Classic. Other notable players who busted out on Day 1 included Jamie Gold, Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo, Mark Seif, Chip Jett, Layne Flack, Tuan Le, Vanessa Rousso, Joe Hachem, Evelyn Ng, Gus Hansen, Clonie Gowen, Huck Seed, Antonio Esfandiari, Cyndy Violette, Dan Harrington, Allen Cunningham, Scott Fischman, John Juanda, Davidson Matthew, Lee Watkinson, Tony Cousineau, David Williams, Jim Bechtel, Padraig Parkinson, Amir Vahedi, Chris Grigorian, Farzad Bonyadi, Eric Froelich, Jerry Buss, James Van Alstyne, Kevin O'Donnell, Hasan Habib, Sammy Farha, John Gale, JJ Liu, John Phan, Alex Jacob, Mike Gracz, Bill Gazes, and Jen Tilly.

Despite the bum ankle, Joe Sebok ended Day 1 as one of the chipleaders. He even cracked Aces late in the session when he rivered quad Jacks with J-10 to put his stack to over 200K as he became one of the first player to pass that milestone.

In total, 368 players survived the cut on the first day at the L.A. Poker Classic. Some of the noteworthy names who made it to Day 2 include: Barry Greenstein, Joe Sebok, Freddy Deeb, Mike Matusow, Ed Moncada, Prahlad Friedman, Kristy Gazes, Erica Schoenberg, Phil Laak, Shane "Shaniac" Schleger, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, C.K. Hua, Danny Alaei, Gavin Smith, Mark Newhouse, Joe Bartholdi, Todd Brunson, Erick Lindgren, David Plastik, Marsh Waggoner, Kathy Liebert, Miami John Cernuto, Carl Olson, David Levi, Isabelle Mercier, Robert Mizrachi, Brian Haveson, Harry Demetriou, Joe Pelton, Dan Alspach, Crispin Leyser, JC Tran, Bill Edler, Martin DeKnijff, Chau Giang, Paul Darden, Minh Ly, Patrik Antonius, Chad Brown, Richard Lee, Ted Forrest, Ted Lawson, Minh Nguyen, Rodeen Talebi, Harbalos Voulgaris, Jesse Jones, Jason Strasser, Don Zewin, Minneapolis Jim Meehan, Allen Kessler, Mark Gregorich, Jordan Morgan, Maria Ho, Eric Lynch, David Chui, Anthony Reategui, Michael Binger, Jeff Cabanillas, Max Pescatori, Paul Wasicka, Quinn Do, Shannon Shorr, Frank Kasella, Greg "FBT" Mueller, Joe Tehan, Lee Markholt, Steve Dannenmann, Chris Karagulleyan, Thomas Keller, Dan Smiech, Anahit Galajain, Anthony Mak, Eugene Todd, Jeff Shulman, Young Phan, Steve Brecher, Joe Awada, Erik Seidel, Nick Schulman, Chris Bell, Shawn Shiekhan, and Steve Diano.

Chip count information will be updated once the official totals are corrected.

Action for Day 2 at the L.A. Poker Classic resumes at 3:30 P.M. local time at the Commerce Casino. Stop by and check out our live reporting updates, including chip counts, photos, videos, and more.

This is part two of our "room reviews" for Laughlin, Nevada. Click here to read part one.

Harrah's Laughlin (6 tables)

There are two tournaments a day at Harrah's; one at 10 AM and another at 7 PM. The morning event is $50 the evening is $150, you could make it $30 or $100 by skipping the pre-tournament add-on but the additional "add-on" chips are so large compared to the buy-in chips that no one doesn't take it. The cash game at Harrah's is $2/$6 spread limit Hold'em and for some reason it is the juiciest game in town. I can't explain this but in conversations at other casino poker rooms with many local players, the opinion is nearly unanimous. The loosest game in town is
found at Harrah's. There are plenty of cash games in Laughlin and many, if not most, of them are $2/$6 but day in and day out the loosest game with the biggest swings is found at Harrah's. The bonus promotion here is called the "23 Jewels" which includes payouts for all ten straight flush possibilities (suits don't matter) and all thirteen four-of-a-kind hands. There is also a "hand of the day" which can be anything from a 'club flush with a jack' to 'kings cracked.' Just how 'active' are the cash games at Harrah's Laughlin? I saw at least one player each time I was there winning at the rate of over 20 big bets an hour; of course, if someone is winning at that rate, then of course….

Riverside (10 tables)

First thing you want to do at the Riverside is familiarize yourself every bonus and giveaway; they are all up on the walls but well worth reading. There are hourly bonuses for either High Hand or Aces Cracked depends on the time of day. There are weekly freeroll qualifications for all kinds of reasons, once of which has something to do with your zodiac sign and the color of your eyes. The monthly freeroll has a nice tidy prize pool but I don't have enough space to tell you how to qualify, expect that every twenty-third person to read this review apparently does qualify. Just let it be known that knowledge of the bells and whistles at the Riverside might win you more than your straight flush on the river.

The Riverside has 6:30 PM NLHE tournaments for $35. Saturday the cards are in the air at 4 PM. I liked the cash games here and they did have at least one Omaha H/L table in action. My only objection is that they should open tables near the windows first; the river view from the Riverside is so nice that even hardened poker players would appreciate it.

Colorado Belle (12 tables)

MGM Grand sold the Colorado Belle and the Edgewater to Sher Gaming late last year; the transition is just now beginning to show signs in the poker rooms. The room at the Belle is the largest in Laughlin with excellent lighting; free chicken tenders and a very knowledgeable staff.

Monday through Friday there is a $100 evening NLHE tournament (Thursday it's Omaha 8 or better). Sunday night the same NLHE structure but with a $200 mystery bounty, this is generally the biggest event of the week at the Belle.

They also have a gimmick that will drive poker purists crazy but it is what it is. They call it Pingo! It's basically a bingo card with poker hands. Get five in a row or any of ten other designs and win cash. Fill the entire card and win $500. The Hold'em bad beat was hovering at $30,000 last week and I was told the back-up pot is already around $20,000.

Edgewater (4 tables)

New ownership means a new poker room for the Edgewater. Even though the current room has a spectacular river view, the new room will upstairs with the Sports Book and probably a lot more conducive to the overall poker experience. New tables with auto-shufflers are on order and the expected new room should debut in early summer 2007.

The 10 AM tournaments at Edgewater are good for the first time player; even the local sharks are less aggressive here. The structure could use a little tweaking though, with 1,000 chips for the buy-in and each rebuy but then 4,000 for the add-on; this really isn't a poker tournament until everyone takes the add-on, which is fine if there is some gamble in the first hour but alas it's a game for new players and therefore very tight. Expect more events and gimmicks/bonuses when the new ownership is fully in place.

Aquarius (formerly Flamingo) (4 tables)

Every poker town has at least one little quiet room and in Laughlin that's the Aquarius. The makeover of the property in the transition from the Flamingo last year did not include an upgrade to the poker room. There is an early bird 9 AM tournament each day and a Wednesday Omaha tournament at 7 PM. Other than that the four tables at the Aquarius are generally fairly quiet with usually one limit Hold'em game in progress and nearly always an open seat.

One of the most popular parts of the recent history of poker has been the multitude of "poker camps" that have come into being.In some cases, you can spend upwards of $3000 to attend some of these camps, but the World Tavern Poker Tour is bringing back one of the more successful endeavors and once again is able to have 2004 World Champion Greg Raymer as its centerpiece.

On Sunday, March 11th at Hucka's Sports Bar in the Harbor Downtown district of Baltimore, MD, the Fossilman Challenge II will take place, which will be a special event in its own right.Festivities for the event will start the night before on Saturday, however, where seminar participants will have the chance to play in several sit and gos and also have the ear
of Greg Raymer for the evening (perhaps even the chance to take on the World Champion as well!).The seminar starts in full force on Sunday with many facets that should prove to be informative to all participants.

Registration starts early Sunday morning at 8AM and the subjects covered by Raymer during the seminar should have the attention of those in attendance."Advanced Pot Odds and Position Play," "Bluffing, Tells and Forcing Tilt," and "Online Play and Turning Pro" are just a few of the subjects that Greg will cover during his day-long seminar in Baltimore, which will wrap with a Q&A with Raymer himself.At the end of all the talk, the chips will actually start to fly in a poker tournament for the seminar attendees and, once the final table is reached, Raymer himself will join and players can battle it out on the felt with the 2004 World Champion.

The first Fossilman Challenge was held in North Carolina in 2006 and drew a surprising 120 participants.As with the upcoming Baltimore seminar, the day was chock full of poker information and Raymer made himself very available to all the seminar attendees.Everyone had the chance to speak about particulars of the game with Greg and the tournament afterwards was well contested and enjoyed by all.

The price for the Sunday event (which will also get you into the festivities on Saturday night) is currently running at $179, but that price will only be good until February 16th.After that point, the price of the seminar will go up to $199.There is a limit on the number of participants at 150, so it would be important to sign up early at worldtavernpoker.com for the second edition of the Fossilman Challenge.

The long-rumored acquisition by British gaming giant Ladbrokes of 888 Holdings Plc, the parent company of Pacific Poker, has experienced another wrinkle.According to several British websites, the acquisition is being reworked to shield Ladbrokes from potential U.S. regulatory fallout.

The 888 Holdings buyout has been part of a troika of major site acquisitions or mergers always just about to be announced, none of which have yet occurred.This deal was reportedly delayed while Ladbrokes searched for ways to stay legal according to British stock-market regulations.888 Holdings has long been seen as a natural fit to Ladbrokes' own market gaps and plans for expansion, and the recent stories were
the first to outline the modified Laddies plan.

According to these reports, Ladbrokes will strip out the major 888 Holdings assets, including the websites, customer databases, and other intellectual property.888 would still remain in place as a company, presumably with some functions and legal responsibilities, though the major assets --- and the profits derived from them --- would transfer to Ladbrokes control.888 Holdings boasts a strong presence in several markets where Ladbrokes itself is weak or nonexistent, the primary reason the deal was a natural fit.The details of the modified acquisition have not yet been made public, though the legal technicalities wrestled with by Ladbrokes' corporate counsel were reported to be the cause of the two months' delay from the time the pending deal was first reported.

If it goes through as planned, the total value of the 888 Holdings acquisition is approximately £440 million, or about $860 million in U.S. dollars.Ladbrokes' stock value experienced a brief jump following the initial report before settling back to its previous level, with investors perhaps reserving judgment until more details of the Ladbrokes plan come into public view.