This Week's Big Winner: Anthony Zinno Wins World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic Main Event

Just a couple weeks after winning his second World Poker Tour title at the Fallsview Poker Classic in Niagara Falls, Canada, Anthony Zinno turned his attention to the prestigious $10,000 buy-in L.A. Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. After six days of play, the Cranston, Rhode Island native topped the field of 538 players to bank his third WPT title and the $1,015,860 first-place prize.

Zinno, who gave up a career in law to play poker, previously won the WPT Borgata Poker Open in 2013. The 33-year-old now has more than $2.8 million in career live tournament earnings, the vast majority of which has been won in just the last three years.

Here’s a look at the five biggest hands that propelled Zinno to victory:

Tournament: WPT L.A. Poker Classic
Buy-In: $10,000 • No. of Entries: 538 • First Prize: $1,015,860

Hand No. 1 – Short-Stacked Zinno Doubles Up With 10 Players Left

The Action

As the shortest stack with just 10 players remaining at the unofficial final table, Anthony Zinno found a great spot to double up his last 13 big blinds. Edward Ochana raised from early position to 65,000 and Zinno moved all in from the cutoff for 380,000. Ochana made the call with pocket fives, but was in bad shape against Zinno’s pocket aces. The board ran out 10 8 6 2 3 and Zinno doubled up to a much more comfortable stack of about 28 big blinds.

Hand No. 2 – Zinno Doubles Through And Then Busts Neff

The Action

With just five players remaining at the televised final table, Anthony Zinno remained on the short stack. He raised from under the gun to 125,000 and Peter Neff reraised from the small blind to 330,000. Zinno moved all in for 955,000 and Neff called with pocket eights. Zinno turned over pocket jacks and they held as the board ran out 10 10 7 5 J, doubling him up to more than 2 million in chips. On the very next hand, Neff got the remainder of his stack in with A Q, only to see it cracked by Zinno’s K Q, which only had a 28% chance of winning, when the board gave him a Broadway straight. Neff earned $250,260 for his fifth-place finish. All of a sudden, Zinno was virtually tied for second place with four players left.

Hand No. 3 – Zinno Doubles Through Leah For The First Of Four Times

The Action

With Mike Leah running away with the tournament and all three of his opponents sitting on 30 big blinds or less, he raised from the small blind to 200,000 and got a call from Anthony Zinno in the big blind. The flop came down Q 8 7 and Leah bet 130,000. Zinno raised to 375,000, and Leah thought it over for about a minute before reraising to 755,000. Zinno moved all in for 1,855,000, and Leah made the call with Q 3 for top pair. Zinno, however, held Q J for top pair with a better kicker. The turn and river fell 6 K and Zinno doubled up to more than 4.1 million, putting distance between himself and the other two short stacks.

Hand No. 4 – Zinno Doubles Into The Chip Lead

The Action

After two more double ups while on the short stack, Anthony Zinno found himself once again at the bottom of the leaderboard with three players remaining. Chris Klodnicki limped in from the button and Mike Leah raised from the small blind to 525,000. Zinno then reraised to 1,900,000, essentially committing himself to the hand. Klodnicki folded and Leah moved all in. Zinno called off for a total of 3 million with 7 7 and saw that he was racing against Leah’s A 10. According to the Card Player Poker Odds Calculator, Leah had a 45 percent chance of busting Zinno. After the flop and turn of K 5 2 Q, Leah still had a 36 percent chance of winning, needing any ace, jack, ten or diamond, but the river was the 6, securing Zinno’s fifth double up of the televised final table. After the hand, Zinno held 6.2 million in chips and the overall lead. After winning another race to bust Klodnicki in third place, Zinno entered heads-up play with more than a 2-1 advantage over Leah.

Hand No. 5 – Zinno Gets Leah To Commit Against His Aces

The Action

On the 13th hand of heads-up action, Mike Leah min-raised the button to 400,000 and Anthony Zinno three-bet to 825,000, or about a fifth of Leah’s stack. Leah then moved all in for 3,950,000 and Zinno snap-called with A A. Leah could only show down A 3, giving him only a 7 percent chance of double up. The flop came down 10 5 2, improving Leah’s chances to 16 percent with a wheel draw, but the turn and river fell 3 5, giving the pot to Zinno. Leah banked $701,350 for his runner-up performance, the second largest score of his career. Zinno meanwhile won his third WPT title, joining the likes of Gus Hansen and Carlos Mortensen. He was also the third player to win back-to-back WPT events, along with Marvin Rettenmaier and Darren Elias. For the win, Zinno pocketed $1,015,860

Final Table Tournament Results

1. Anthony Zinno — $1,015,860
2. Mike Leah — $701,350
3. Chris Klodnicki — $451,090
4. Igor Yaroshevskyy — $333,680
5. Peter Neff — $250,260
6. Peter Tran — $200,830
7. Vladimir Dobrovolskii — $167,360
8. Edward Ochana — $133,370
9. Timothy Cramer — $100,410