L.A. Poker Classic $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha With Rebuy RecapA Star-Studded Field of 50 Players Purchase 36 Rebuys |
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The first of three major preliminary events on the 2009 L.A. Poker Classic schedule kicked off today at 3 p.m. at Commerce Casino. The $5,000 pot-limit Omaha rebuy event attracted 50 players who purchased 36 rebuys. This created a prize pool worth $412,100.
The pro-heavy field arrived a little late today, and the purchase of so many rebuys prolonged eliminations from taking place for some time, but when players did begin to bust, it was in a flood. Among the top professionals lost during the first flurry of eliminations were Anna Wroblewski, Daniel Alaei, Matt Giannetti, Chino Rheem, Phil Laak, Robert Williamson III, Jason Mercier, J.C. Tran, David Benyamine, Lee Watkinson and Hasan Habib (on the same hand), Michael Mizrachi, and Erik Seidel.
When action got down to two tables, things settled down once again as players dug in and attempted to stage a deep run to the final table. This was when a series of the largest hands in the tournament transpired and changed everything in the process. While Raphael Zimmerman hammered away with aggression to build his chip stack into a top contender, Frank Kassela repeatedly won huge pots to stay near the top of the leader board. Here is a look at Kassela's key hands:
Hand of the Tournament
Eli Elezra moved all in from the big blind on a flop of 8
6 4
, and Nenad Medic raised to 10,000 from under the gun plus one. Jimmy Fricke reraised all in for 30,100 from the hijack, and Frank Kassella made the call on the button. Medic then reraised all in, and Kassela made the call, covering all three of his opponents for their tournament lives. The players flipped up their cards, and Elezra quickly mucked his cards and left the table when he saw what he was up against:
Kassela: 6
6 A 4
Medic: A 4 J 8
Fricke: 7 5 8 7
Turn and River: K and 6
Kassela hit quad sixes on the river and knocked out three opponents in one fell swoop. He is a huge chip leader now with over 200,000.
Kassela Doubles Up, and Then Some
Frank Kassela has now found himself on the winning end of the two most lucractive pots in the tournament. He was all in against Raphael Zimmerman, who had both Kassela and Erick Lindgren covered all in on a board of J 10 2 8 8. Their cards:
Kassela: A Q 9 3
Lindgren: A 5 A 9
Zimmerman: J 10 9 7
Kassela doubled up on the hand with his straight and eliminated Erick Lindgren in eighth place.
Kassela used these windfalls to march into the prize money, while other pros didn't make it past the money bubble. Erick Lindgren, Scotty Nguyen, Barry Greenstein, Vinnie Vinh, Chris Ferguson, and Matt Glantz all missed the cut. The players who did make the final five included Kassela, Zimmerman, Randy Ohel, Mickey Mills, and Andreas Krause.
After returning from a break after level 10, the players began to discuss how they would like to proceed. Since three of the five players were going to play in the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. event on Monday, and it was already past 3 a.m., the final five players came to gentleman's agreement to determine the final standings based on chip counts. Here are the final results:
1: Frank Kassela
2: Raphael Zimmerman
3: Mickey Mills
4: Randy Ohel
5: Andreas Krause
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