David 'ODB' Baker Wins 2019 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic Main Event

The first-ever delayed World Poker Tour final table has decided its champion. The 2019 WPT L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event attracted a field of 546 total players to create a $5,169,270 prize pool. Over the course of five days of action at The Commerce Casino, the field was narrowed down to a final table of six players, with play halting on Mar. 6. The final table resumed on Monday, Mar. 11 at the HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas inside Luxor Hotel and Casino, the first of three events that are set to play out over consecutive days. After more than eight hours of intense poker action, David ‘ODB’ Baker emerged victorious, capturing his first WPT title and the top prize of $1,015,000.

Baker now has more than $5.5 million in career live tournament earnings, with titles in both WPT and World Series of Poker events. The 46-year-old poker pro from Katy, Texas was awarded 2,100 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his third final table of the year, having also made deep runs in two smaller H.O.R.S.E. events at the LAPC. As a result of this latest win Baker has surged into ninth place in the 2019 Player of the Year race standings.

Baker entered the final table in second chip position behind Darren Elias, the WPT’s all-time title leader who was looking to take down his record-furthering fifth main event on the tour. Baker got off to an inauspicious start, losing the first all-in of the final table with pocket tens against John Smith’s AQ on just the fourth hand of the day. Baker remained one of the largest stacks at the table even after losing the hand.

Steve Yea was the first player to be eliminated. He got all-in with A3 up against Matas Cimbolas’ pocket jacks and failed to come from behind. He took home $201,650 as the sixth-place finisher.

Two-time WSOP $10,000 heads-up no-limit hold’em championship finalist John Smith was the next to go. He ran pocket fives into the pocket kings of Cimbolas and was unable to improve. Smith was awarded $267,400 for his fifth-place showing, while Cimbolas climbed to second place on the leaderboard.

Baker kept pace with Cimbolas by knocking out JC Moussa in fourth place. Moussa shoved over the top of Baker’s under-the-gun raise with A10 from the button. Baker quickly called with QQ and held up on a 6335K runout. Moussa hit the rail with $346,550 while Baker closed the gap on the top two.

The final three players were all deep stacked, which lead to a lengthy battle. It took 107 hands until the next elimination arose. On the 103rd hand of three-way action, Cimbolas raised to 375,000 on the button and Elias moved all-in for more than 8 million from the small blind with 66. Baker looked down at the AA and made the call. Neither player improved and Baker won the massive pot of over 14 million, leaving Elias with less than ten big blinds. He was eliminated shortly afterward, getting all-in with 74 and losing to the A2 of Cimbolas on a Q105KQ runout. Elias earned $473,280 for his latest deep run on the WPT.

Heads-up play lasted 38 hands. It began with Baker holding more than a 2-to-1 chip lead. By the time the final hand arose he had extended that advantage to over 4-to-1. With blinds of 150,000-300,000 with a big-blind ante of 300,000, CImbolas limped in from the button and Baker checked. The flop brought the A103 and Baker check-called a bet of 300,000. The turn was the 6 and Baker checked again. Cimbolas bet 600,000 and Baker made the call. The 2 completed the board and Baker bet enough to put Cimbolas all-in. He made the call with the 105 for a pair of tens, only to muck when Baker revealed the 54 for a rivered straight. With that Baker secured the pot and the title, sending Cimbolas to the rial with $646,930 as the runner-up finisher.

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

Winner photo credit: Joe Giron / WPT.

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