Toby Lewis Leads LAPC's Final Six
After five days of play, the televised six-max final table of the Season XVI WPT $10,000 L.A. Poker Classic Championship at The Commerce Hotel & Casino is set with United Kingdom's Toby Lewis in the best position to win the title and the $1 million top prize.
The former EPT champ will add to his $4.4 million in live tournament cashes in a big way and is hoping to win his second seven-figure prize this year after he shipped the Aussie Millions Main Event for A$1,458,198 ($1,178,513).
Dennis Blieden also brings forth a huge stack of 4,125,000 in chips to the final table; double the amount of any other player outside of Lewis. Also in contention are Marc Macdonnell (third - 1,695,000), Derek Wolters (fourth - 1,520,000), Peter Hengsakul (fifth - 1,065,000), and Manuel Martinez (sixth - 985,000).
2018 WPT L.A. Poker Classic Championship Final Table
| Seat | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Hengsakul | United States | 1,065,000 | 36 |
| 2 | Marc Macdonnell | Ireland | 1,695,000 | 57 |
| 3 | Dennis Blieden | United States | 4,125,000 | 138 |
| 4 | Manuel Martinez | Spain | 985,000 | 33 |
| 5 | Toby Lewis | United Kingdom | 5,390,000 | 180 |
| 6 | Derek Wolters | United States | 1,520,000 | 51 |
Day 5 Recap
The penultimate day of the tournament began with 13 hopefuls remaining out of the 493-entrant field. Players were well in the money with 62 players getting paid. Bleiden maintained a substantial chip lead entering the day with Lewis, his closest competitor in second place.
According to the World Poker Tour blog, It took less than five hours for the field to be trimmed from 13 players to six. Benjamin Zamani was the first player eliminated on Day 5 in 13th place for $57,300 after his jacks ran into the pocket aces held by Macdonnell.
Macdonnell was at it again eliminating Zachary Smiley in 12th place for $70,820 when his ace-king got there against his opponent's pocket kings after an ace spiked the flop.
Garrett Greer became Macdonnell's third victim of the day and hit the rail in 11th place for $70,820. The WPT and WSOP runner-up jammed ace-four from the cutoff and was called by Macdonnell with king-queen. Greer was looking good to double after he paired the ace-ten-nine flop. However, he was drawing dead after the jack appeared on the turn to give Macdonnell a straight.
Lloyd Mandel, who was short on chips, was then eliminated in 10th place for $88,590 by Blieden and the unofficial nine-max final table was set. Shortly afterward, Aaron Kaiser hit the rails in ninth place for $88,590 after his ace-king couldn't get there against the pocket aces held by Lewis. After the hand, Lewis took over the chip lead.
Anthony Zinno was the next to go in eighth place for $112,180. He was in a world of pain and couldn't improve his hand after he three-bet jammed a seven-seven-three flop with ace-three with Blieden calling with ace-seven.
The day ended, and the televised final table was set, after Greg Paryani was eliminated in seventh place for $143,740. Lewis limped from early position with pocket eights, and Paryani limped behind from the button with queen-nine suited. Paryani got it all in with top two pair on the queen-nine-eight flop but was well behind against the bottom set held by Lewis. His four-outer was unable to come with a king appearing on the turn and an ace completing the board on the river.
Each of the six players is guaranteed to cash for $186,235 with the winner slated to take home the trophy and the $1,000,000 top prize, which includes entry into the season-ending WPT $15,000 Tournament of Champions.
| Position | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 |
| 2 | $600,630 |
| 3 | $430,210 |
| 4 | $319,310 |
| 5 | $244,430 |
| 6 | $186,325 |
The televised final table is set for 4 p.m. PST and will be commentated on a 30-minute delay starting at 4:30 p.m. PST by Dave Farrah and Season IX WPT Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger. You can watch it live on PokerGO.
* Photo and hand details courtesy of Joe Giron/WorldPokerTour.com.
