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
