Home / Poker News March 2010 / LA Poker Classic – Andras Koroknai wins
LA Poker Classic – Andras Koroknai wins
Posted by: Mark Baldwing - Sun, 2010-03-07 02:12
After 6 days of grueling green-felt battles, the 745-player initial LA Poker Classic starting field finally yielded a winner. Hungary’s Andras Koroknai was the one who walked away with the title at the end of it all, topped off by a prize of $1,788,040. As if that weren’t enough though, Koroknai got rewarded in other ways too: he earned a seat in the WPT’s World Championship which will take place this April, offering Koroknai the chance to go for the double.
Michael Kamran, one of the shorter stacks was the first player to be bounced from the
poker tournament’s final table. He picked up $246,740 for his efforts. Jean Claude Moussa was the next player to bite the dust. He scored $321,840, not a shabby haul for a 5th place finisher at all.
Gevork Kasabyan would be the first to follow him to the rail, as the televised final table quickly whittled down to 3. Kasabyan decided to pin all his hopes onto an A,7o he’d picked up, but as it turned out, he never stood a chance against Tri Huynh’s A,9o. The flop put Huynh firmly into the driver’s seat: it gave him a two pair. Kasabyan needed a runner-runner at that point to stay alive, and through the 7h which fell on the river, Lady Luck gave him a glimmer of hope. She then completely turned her back on him, slapping a 9s onto the river to give Huynh a boat and to send Kasabyan to the payout booth. Kasabyan picked up $450,580 for his 4th place.
Huynh couldn’t put Kasabyan’s chips to good use though. He picked up pocket Js and decided to take a shot at Koroknai, who was more than glad to tangle with him, holding A,K. Huynh picked up $665,140 for his 3rd place.
The heads-up stage found Koroknai holding a 13-1 chip lead over Raymond Dolan. The two played on for a while, but the match-up never amounted to anything more than a cat and mouse fight. On the final hand, Koroknai shoved all-in on a Qh, 8h against Dolan’s Q, 4o. The flop gave Dolan a pair of 4s but it also gave Koroknai a flush draw. The Kh on the river filled his flush and the poker tournament was over.
