Dennis Blieden became the latest WPT L.A. Poker Classic champion last night after bulldozing his way through the six-handed final table. His terrific performance on the final day of the $10,000 Championship culminated in a heads-up battle against Toby Lewis, which lasted just two hands.
Blieden collected $1 million, which included a $15,000 entry into the WPT Tournament of Champions, a Hublot watch, and a $5,000-worth JetSmarter membership.
The player entered the final day of the Main Event second in chips, with Lewis being the only fellow contender to hold more chips than him. Lewis managed to maintain and even extend his start-of-the-day lead during the first half of final table play, but then it was Blieden who took over the lead and never let go of it.
The six finalists from the field of 493 entries needed just four and a half hours and 79 hands to determine the winner. What is more, Blieden won 43 of all hands dealt on Thursday when the final stage of the tournament was played. In other words, the player emerged the winner in more than a half of all hands played within the final table.
The player built and then cemented his lead by scooping several major pots, including a 1.46 million one against Derek Wolters, a 3.94 million one against Lewis, which secured the eventual champion with the chip lead, and a 3.36 million one at a later stage.
Heads-Up Play
The two-handed match between Blieden and Lewis began with the former holding a massive chip advantage over his final opponent. Winning every other hand at the final table, Blieden had accumulated 11.83 million in chips to enter the heads-up. Lewis had 2.95 million at the time.
Lewis was actually coming fresh from a first place in the Aussie Millions A$10,600 Main Event for a career best cash of A$1,458,198.
As mentioned above, the two-handed match lasted just two hands. Lewis won the first one, but Blieden sealed the deal on the second hand dealt. The player three-bet pre-flop to 300,000 and Lewis raised to 750,000. The flop came [6d][6s][3s]. Blieden called a 400,000 bet from his opponent. The [Qh] appeared on the turn. Blieden checked and Lewis went all in for his last 2.2 million. Blieden gave it some thought before calling.
The eventual winner then turned over [As][Qd] for a two pair against Lewis’ [10s][10c]. The [6h] landed on the river to put an end to the tournament. While failing to win a second major title within a month, Lewis still collected a nice payout of $600,630 for his runner-up finish.
This year’s WPT LAPC Main Event attracted 493 entries to generate a prize pool of $4,681,035. The top 62 finishers got paid. The tournament was played over February 24-March 1. The WPT Main Thunder is next headed to Thunder Valley Casino Resort, where the $3,500 Main Event is set to kick off today.
