Anthony Zinno Wins 2015 L.A. Poker Classic For Back-To-Back WPT Titles

Anthony Zinno added his name to the poker history books this week when he emerged victorious from a field of 538 players to win the 2015 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event and $1,015,860. Winning a WPT main event is an accomplishment in it’s own right, but the real story this time around is the fact that this was a back-to-back win on the tour for Zinno, who took down the 2015 WPT Fallsview Poker Classic main event just three weeks ago. As a result he became the third player in the tour’s history to win back-to-back events, joining Marvin Rettenmaier and Darren Elias.

Zinno wasn’t done tying records yet though. Seeing as he had also won the 2013 WPT Borgata Poker Open main event, this win also saw him became only the third player to ever win three events on the World Poker Tour, adding his name next to the likes of Gus Hansen and Carlos Mortensen. It seems that Zinno’s decision to give professional poker a try after graduating from law school a few years ago has paid off.

“Oh my god, my adrenaline is still flowing,” Zinno told the World Poker Tour’s reporters after it was all over. “I feel so grateful. I guess you could say I followed my dreams. I followed my passion.”

In addition to the title and the money Zinno was also awarded 2,100 Card Player Player of the Year points. With his previous win this year he was already inside the top 20 in the POY standings, but with this victory he surged into the outright lead. He now sits 1,260 points ahead of his nearest competitor Kevin Schulz, with 3,540 points and year-to-date earnings of $1,268,280.

Zinno’s road to victory was far from easy. He had to contend with a tough final table full of experienced opponents like Peter Neff (5th – $250,260), Chris Klodnicki (3rd – $451,090) and eventual runner-up Mike Leah (2nd – $701,350). Also, Zinno came into the final table as the second shortest stack. In fact, he was down to as few as seven big blinds during four handed play before mounting a comeback.

By the time he made it to heads-up he held a 2.5-to-1 chip advantage over Leah. The final hand of the tournament arose just eleven hands after losing Klodnicki in third. With blinds of 100,000 – 200,000 with an ante of 25,000 Leah raised to 400,000 from the button. Zinno three-bet to 825,000 and Leah moved all-in for 3,950,000. Zinno snap called with the AA and was in tremendous shape against Leah’s A3. The 1052 flop gave Leah some hope with a draw at the wheel, but the 3 on the turn and 5 on the river secured the pot and the title for Zinno.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

Photo courtesy of World Poker Tour / Joe Giron.

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