Strip Poker: CPTV Visits Caesars Palace Classic

In this "Strip Poker" series, Card Player covers the Las Vegas poker scene - on The Strip and around the city.

As the official media partner, Card Player stopped by the biggest poker room in Vegas to get a firsthand look at how the tournament series was going. Click here to view that video.

The large prize pools and big fields have attracted some of the game's most popular poker professionals, including Scotty Nguyen, James Van Alstyne, and Brandon Cantu. A couple big names have made final tables, such as Theo Tran and Mark Seif. All winners so far have had previous major tournament cashes. Benjamin Fineman, winner of event No. 5, a $1,060 buy-in no-limit tournament, recently gained recognition from the airing of the final table of the World Series of Poker $3,000 buy-in no-limit tournament, where he shared the spotlight with Phil Hellmuth. He was knocked out in fifth in that event but took home the gold yesterday at Caesars.

The following are the winners of the first six events:

• Event No. 1 ($500 no-limit hold'em) - Larry Merritt $79,608
• Event No. 2 ($1,000 no-limit hold'em) - Serge Gagnon $88,433
• Event No. 3 ($1,500 no-limit hold'em) - Ben Santoli $56,630
• Event No. 4 ($500 no-limit hold'em) - Jeff Suh $60,718
• Event No. 5 ($1,000 no-limit hold'em) - Benjamin Fineman $65,845
• Event No. 6 ($1,000 limit hold'em) - Jim Shaw $20,145

Since the total prize pool for the tournament series has exceeded the $1 million prize pool mark, the events are eligible to award Card Player Player of the Year points. Pros in contention for the title still have opportunities left in the Caesars Palace Classic to rack up some points.

Click here for the full schedule and results.

Single-table sit-and-go satellites run for both the preliminary events and the main event from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. For more information on the buy-ins and payouts of these satellites, click here.

The $10,000 buy-in main event, which guarantees a $1 million first-place prize, begins at noon on Monday.

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