World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic Day 1: Gavin Smith Wins (Prop Bet)
Day 1 of the World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic main event got underway Friday afternoon, and although he is second to last in chips after the day, Gavin Smith was the day's biggest winner. Smith, along with Joe Sebok and Jeff Madsen had a prop bet riding on how the three finished. The first player eliminated would have to get tattoos of the faces of the other two while the second player to bust would only need to get a tattoo of the face of the last man standing.
Sebok was the first to go when his pocket aces were cracked during the third level. It was Madsen, who was still riding high after his win at Borgata earlier this month, who busted next. There were a few buy-out discussions, meaning Sebok and Madsen could pay their way out of the tattoos, but it seems as if both are ready to go though with the shenanigans. A very happy Smith mentioned on his Twitter page that he got cold-decked during the final level of play and will start tomorrow with only 4,350 chips.
As for the tournament itself, it was Masa Kagawa and Mark Seif who finished the day one and two respectively, both with over 120,000. They will lead the 463 remaining players into Saturday's day two. With a total field of 745 players, the LA Poker Classic will be paying 72 spots, with first place paying 1,788,001, and second place paying $1,002,710.
With a majority of the poker community on the West Coast for the month-long series at the Commerce Casino, another slew of notables made the quick trip from Las Vegas following the PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour Venetian. Some of the bigger names who made it through day one were Shawn Buchanan, David Singer, Marco Johnson, Robert Mizrachi, Kimmy Fricke,Paul Wasicka and Team PokerStars Pros Darus Suharto and Vanessa Rousso.
Joining Sebok and Madsen on the rail Friday were last year's LA Poker Classic winner Cornel Andrew Cimpan, Team PokerStars Pro Peter Eastgate, Andy Bloch, Scott Seiver and Jonathan LIttle.
The battle for the seven-figure first-place prize continues today at 12:00 p.m. PST and you can follow along live at WorldPokerTour.com
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