The WPT L.A. Poker Classic was completed a few hours ago. The tournament was held at the Commerce Casino and kicked off back on January 23. It was poker pro Anthony Zinno who won the $10,000 single-entry Main Event to capture the amount of $1,015,860.
Zinno managed to tie several WPT records with his victory. For instance, this was his seventh cash since the beginning of the season, something that has been achieved by few other players. What is more, this is his third consecutive victory in a WPT event, which makes him the third player to win three back-to-back tournaments, the other two being Gus Hansen and Carlos Mortensen.
A total of 538 players took part in the event, but only six of them sat at the final table. Zinno was fifth in chips at the beginning of this final stage of the play.
On Hand #31, Peter Tran was the first to leave after he could not hold up against Mike Leah. The player received $200,830 for his sixth place.
He was then followed by his namesake Peter Neff who was eliminated in fifth position by Zinno himself. Igor Yaroshevsky also fell victim to the soon-to-be-champion. The Ukrainian player took home the sum of $333,680 for finishing fourth in the tournament.
Thus, Chris Klodnicki, Mike Leah, and Anthony Zinno were the only three remaining players on the final table.
It was on Hand #161 when Zinno defeated Klodnicki and sent him to third place. The player received $451,090.
And although it took 161 hands for the players who would face each other in the heads-up play to be determined, only 13 hands were played until the champion was announced. On what turned out to be the last hand, Zinno had [Ad][As] and his opponent held [Ac][3h]. The board showed [10d][5h][2s][3s][5c] and it became clear that Leah will have to content himself with the second place and the sum of $701,350.
As for Zinno, he was awarded $1,015,860. Bearing in mind his latest victory as well as his impressive performance throughout WPT Season XIII, we could say that the player has every chance of becoming Player of the Year, an award given by the WPT to celebrate those who demonstrate excellent skills and composure at its events.
The WPT is now heading to San Francisco where the Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament will be held between March 9 and March 13.
