February 29 2012, Donnie Peters

The final 18 players returned to action for Day 5 of the 2012 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino on Tuesday to play down to the final table. When the final six remained, Sean Jazayeri was on top with 4.38 million in chips.

When the day began, Noah Schwartz was the man to catch, followed closely by Dan Kelly. Both went on to the final table, sitting third and fourth in chips, respectively.

Shahen Martirosian, the first player eliminated, left in 18th place. He was followed out the door by Nick Binger (17th), Daniel Idema (16th), Skip Wilson (15th) and A.J. Jejelowo (14th). After that batch of players fell to the rail, Elvis Huynh headed out the door in 13th, Joe Hachem in 12th, Jason DeWitt in 11th and Sorel Mizzi in 10th to set the final nine-handed table.

Former WPT champion Hachem went out in Level 26 with the blinds at 20,000/40,000/5,000. According to the WPT Live Updates Team, Hachem moved all-in from the button for his last 710,000 and Sean Jazayeri called from the big blind with . Hachem was just barely outdone holding . After the board ran out , Hachem was eliminated and earned a $60,610 payday.

When the final nine-handed table began, Jason Somerville held the chip lead. He wound up losing that lead to Kelly on the 12th hand of the final table, but hung on to make the official WPT televised final table.

Falling in ninth place for $79,060 was Stephen Chidwick. During Level 27 with the blinds up to 25,000/50,000/5,000, Chidwick was all-in with against Jason Burt’s . No help came for Chidwick, who was eliminated.

Falling in eighth place was David Pham. During the same level that Chidwick went out, Jazayeri raised to 100,000 from middle position. Pham three-bet to 350,000 from the big blind and action fell back on Jazayeri. He four-bet and made it 950,000 to go. Pham took some time and then moved all-in for approximately 2.1 million. Jazayeri snap-called with . Pham turned over to reveal the cooler. The flop, turn and river ran out and Pham was eliminated. He earned $110,680 for his finish.

With seven people left, it was time for the official final-table bubble. Allen Carter has had some great success on the WPT, including a win at the 2009 WPT Southern Poker Championship for $1 million and a third-place finish in the 2011 version of the same event for $218,471. This time around, he’d have to settle for a seventh-place finish because he became the final-table bubble boy.

In Level 28 with the blinds at 30,000/60,000/10,000, David “Doc” Sands raised from the button to 120,000. Carter reraised all-in from the big blind for about 1.2 million. Sands made the call and rolled over . Carter was at risk holding . After no help on the board, Carter’s chips were added to Sands’ stack. For his finish, Carter collected $155,480 in prize money.

2012 WPT L.A. Poker Classic Final Table Chip Counts

The final table will commence on Wednesday at 1600 PST (0000 GMT) and will last until a winner is crowned. First place is worth nearly $1.4 million, but each player has already secured at least $202,910. It’s still anybody’s game, and you won’t want to miss finding out who walked away with the title. Be sure to check back here on PokerNews for the final table recap.

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February 10 2012, Brett Collson

The World Poker Tour crowned a new champion Friday when Rinat Bogdanov won the 2012 WPT Venice Grand Prix. Bogdonov, a financial trader from Russia, outlasted a field of 155 players to claim the $302,065 top prize, which includes a seat to the WPT World Championship at the Bellagio in May.

Bogdonov entered the “unofficial” nine-handed final table as one of the short stacks, but dug out of a hole and was near the top of the leaderboard as the final table was reached Thursday night. The man he was chasing, Andrea Dato, secured his second straight seat at a WPT Venice final table and was the chip leader with nearly 1.6 million. Simon Ravnsbaek was second with 922,000, and Bodgonov was lurking with 907,000.

The televised final table kicked off at 1400 CET (0500 PST) on Friday as the final six prepared to play down to a winner. Andrea Carini began the day fifth in chips with 343,000 and wasn’t able to gain any momentum during his first appearance on the big stage. His run ended less than two levels into the day when his was unable to catch up to Dato’s after all the chips went in preflop. Carini earned $42,319 for his five days of work.

The next player to hit the rail was Gianlucca Trebbi. After moving all-in several times and not getting any action, Trebbi pushed his chips in preflop again with . This time, though, he found a caller in Alessandro Longobardi, who turned over . The board spelled doom for Trebbi, who collected $56,134 for fifth place.

Bogdanov was quiet during the early stages of the final table, but he gained some steam with a timely double-up courtesy of Dato. According to the WPT Live Updates team, Dato raised to 60,000 on the button (blinds 15,000/30,000) and Bogdanov moved all-in for 515,000 from the big blind. Dato thought for less than a minute before deciding on a call, and the cards were revealed:

Bogdanov:
Dato:

Bogdanov was at risk of elimination, but the board gave him the win on the river, increasing his stack to just over 1 million. Dato, meanwhile, had his stack carved down to 1,470,000, but he still had a slight lead over Longobardi for the chip lead.

Moments later, Ravnsbaek found himself at risk and in trouble against Bogdanov. Ravnsbaek moved all-in for about 15 big blinds with and Bogdanov called instantly with pocket tens. The board came up empty for Ravnsbaek, and he began his trek to the cashier to pick up a $69,095 paycheck.

Dato’s reign over the table ended after a few ill-timed three-bets, which shifted the chip lead over to Longobardi. Then, after passing more chips back and forth with Longobardi, Dato shoved his short stack all-in preflop with . Bogdanov called with , and the board sent Dato out the door in third place with $95,003. The result is a slight improvement over Dato’s previous finish at WPT Venice in December, where he took fourth place for $56,822.

Dato’s exit left Bogdanov and Longobardi dueling for the title, and it didn’t last long. After scooping a small pot on the first hand, Bogdonov got the rest of his opponent’s chips on the second hand. With the blinds at 40,000/80,000, Longobardi raised to 200,000 with and Bogdanov called with . The dealer revealed a flop of and Bogdanov check-called a bet of 60,000. The fell on the turn and Bogdanov check-called again, this time a bet worth 240,000. The river gave Bogdanov a full house and he slyly checked again, which prompted Longobardi to fire 300,000 into the pot. Bogdanov moved all-in, and Longobardi checked his cards one last time before making the call with his pair of queens.

Bogdanov revealed his monster hand and Longobardi stood up from his seat to shake hands with the new WPT champ. Longobardi earned $146,826 for his runner-up finish, while Bogdanov collected $302,065, the largest score of his career.

WPT Venice Grand Prix Final Table Results

For more on the WPT Venice Grand Prix, be sure to visit the PartyPoker Blog to see what Tony G and Mike Sexton have to say from the Casino Di Venezia.

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*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.

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