LAPC EVENT RECAP

Nam Le making a final table makes the folks over at the World Poker Tour home office happy.  He is a well known name, has won a WPT title before, and is someone the fans like to watch.  He made the final table at the 2008 Los Angeles Poker Classic and was pretty much a side note. 

All the attention went to the two Phils.  Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth are quite possibly the two biggest names in poker.  Ivey is quiet and reserved, doesn’t say much, but has earned the respect of a large portion of the poker world as the best all around poker player out there.  Phil Hellmuth takes the other approach and continually proclaims himself to be the best tournament player in the world.  Both have the results to stand behind the claims, whether they be self made or from others.

One thing missing from both stellar resumes is a World Poker Tour title.  Neither has reached the pinnacle of a WPT event yet, though Ivey has an amazing streak in regards to WPT final tables.  Leading up to the LAPC Ivey had cashed in 7 WPT events.  Each time he cashed he made the final table.  Seven cashes, seven final tables, zero victories. 

Hellmuth and Ivey had battled at the same table for a full day of play on the day leading up to the final table.  They took turns holding the chip lead, but after Hellmuth doubled Ivey up with his AK against Ivey’s pocket aces it was Ivey taking the chip lead into final table play. 

With Ivey going in as the chip leader all the buzz was around this being Ivey’s tournament.  No way could he go 0 – 8 on WPT final tables, especially not with the chip lead going in, right?  Things started off poorly for Ivey though.  On the very first hand of final table play he raised and then called the all in of Charles Moore.  Ivey only had A-9 and ended up doubling Moore who held A-K.  Ivey lost the chip lead on the first hand and continued to drop chips for the next half hour or so, losing all the large pots he played and only picking up the small ones.

Then he changed gears and went from being involved in a lot of the pots to not playing hardly any pots at all.  While Ivey was sitting, regrouping and biding his time Phil Hellmuth was busy doubling up Nam Le and then being eliminated when he moved in the last of his stack and was called by Scott Montgomery.  Hellmuth had moved in with A-9 and Montgomery eliminated him in 6th place with A-Q.  Hellmuth exited stage left to collect his $229,820 and bemoan his fate yet again.

After busting Hellmuth, Montgomery was the next to go.  He doubled up Quinn Do a few times and then ended up being shortstacked and all in against Nam Le.  Scott’s J-8 was dominated by Le’s K-J and the better hand held up sending Montgomery out the door on Hellmuth’s heels, but with a nice chunk of change totaling $296,860.

Once play was four handed Ivey changed gears again and went on a tear.  He went from average stack to a dominating 7 million without any major showdown hands.  The 7 million chips represented over half of the chips in play and put Ivey in a commanding situation.  It looked as though some of those chips were headed Nam Le’s way though, when Nam was all in with pocket aces and against Ivey with pocket threes.  A three on the turn did a few things.  First, it ended Nam’s tournament with a 4th place finish and $411,770.  Second, it added even more chips to Ivey’s already massive lead.  Third, it meant Moore and Do were left with an uphill climb that very few people gave them much chance of even getting close to the top of.

They didn’t.  Ivey cruised through, eliminating Moore in third place on the first hand of three handed play and then taking only 2 hands of heads up play to finish off Quinn Do.  For third place Moore earned $625,630 and Do got $909,400 for his runner up finish.

With the title in hand even Ivey couldn’t help but crack a smile.  And the $1,596,100 that went along with it probably didn’t hurt much either.