Victor Ramdin vs. Alex Keating

The first final four match on the loser’s side of the bracket to make it into the books today took place between Victor Ramdin and Alex Keating. Ramdin took an early lead in the match but Keating doubled up to take the lead. He was all in preflop with J 3 and Ramdin had him covered with 9 7 in the hole. The board ran out J 7 2 K 2 and Keating grew his stack to 27,100, while Ramdin held 12,900.

Keating won the match a short time later when all of the chips went into the middle preflop between him and Ramdin. Their cards:

Keating: A K
Ramdin: A 3

Board: Q 5 2 Q 7

Keating won the hand and he advanced to a second final four match against Michael Binger.

Daniel Gabriel vs. Vivek Rajkumar

Vivek Rajkumar took the early lead in this match and he extended it to a chip stack worth 33,000 when he raised enough to put Daniel Gabriel all in on a board of 9 4 2 K 6. Gabriel had bet 3,200 on the river and after he mucked his stack was sliced down to 7,000.

He battled hard on the short stack and his first all-in bet came with pocket threes in the hole. Rajkumar made the call with A 2, but their hole cards didn’t matter after a board of A 9 5 6 10 sat on the table. The two chopped things up and the excitement resided for a while.

The next all in saw Gabriel commit all of his chips to the middle with A-K in the hole. Rajkumar also held A-K and the two competitors shared a laugh as the board changed nothing and they chopped up another pot. Gabriel moved all in again on the very next hand and Rajkumar made the call. Gabriel was dominated this time though, his Q 10 was far behind the A 10 of Rajkumar. The board ran out J 7 5 4 8.

Rajkumar won the hand and he advanced to a second final four match against Daniel Guetti.

In the first big hand that took place between Chris Moore and Aaron Jones the two players built a nice pot while the board ran out K 10 9 7 4. Moore bet 4,700 on the river and Jones made the call. Moore showed down K 9 to defeat the pocket aces of Jones. That took Jones down to 12,500 early and Moore held the lead with 27,500.

A few hands later, with a flop of A 8 7 on the board and 3,300 in the pot Jones bet 1,700 and Moore raised to 4,000 from the button. Jones went into the tank and eventually mucked. He now held just 8,000 and needed to double up. That would happen for him a short time later.

Moore bet 2,000 preflop and Jones made the call from the button. The flop was dealt 9 8 5 and Moore checked. Jones bet 1,200 and Moore raised to 10,000. Jones called all in and they turned over their cards:

Jones: 7 6
Moore: K 8

Turn and River: J 2

Jones won the hand to double up and the match continued once anew. Jones was able to figth back for a while but his stack began to shrink again. He made his last stand after Moore raised to 1,000 on the button a few minutes later. Jones raised all in for 9,000 total and Moore made the call. Jones held A-3 but Moore had him dominated with A-Q. Jones will have another chance to win the loser’s bracket in the championship match on that side of the format, but even if he wins Moore will be waiting for him in the overall final for the event.

For the second year in a row Chris Moore has won the winner’s side of the bracket at the L.A. Poker Classic heads-up no-limit hold’em championship event. He will now take a break and wait for the champion of the loser’s side of the bracket to emerge before the final.

A summary of the winner’s final between Moore and Aaron Jones will be posted soon.

The matches on the winner’s side of the bracket played out relatively quickly this afternoon, with both winners making short work of the match.

Aaron Jones vs. Michael Binger: Aaron Jones flopped top two pair on a K-J-8 flop against Michael Binger in the the final hand of their match. Jones checked the flop and Binger bet 2,100. Jones check-raised to 12,000 and Binger made the all-in call. Jones revealed his K-J and Binger held K-5. The turn and river were blanks and Jones advanced to the final on the winner’s side of the bracket.

Chris Moore vs. Anthony Guetti: Chris Moore has steamrolled into the final on the championship side of the bracket for the second year in a row thanks to another dominant run of victories. On the final hand of his final four match he limped on the button with J 6 and Anthony Guetti checked with J-5. The flop was dealt J-10-4 and Guetti bet 400. Moore raised to 1,300 and Guetti made the call. A deuce fell on the turn and Guetti bet 2,200. Moore raised all in and Guetti made the all-in call. The river changed nothing and Moore won the hand to advance.

Loser’s Bracket Elite 8:

Winners in BOLD, losers are eliminated.

Top Half

Eugene Katchalov vs. Vivek Rajkumar

Daniel Gabriel vs. Nick Rampone

David Singer vs. Victor Ramdin

Frank Kassela vs. Alex Keating

A summary of the big hands in these matches will follow shortly.