This Week in Tournament Poker: Big Guarantee in LA, El Sayed Wins in Amneville and Hasse Victorious in Macau
All eyes were focused on Las Vegas last week as the 2010 World Series of Poker concluded when the November Nine returned to determine a winner a few days ago. Elsewhere in the world, poker didn��t stop.
There wasn��t a ton of action that took place, but the three events we��ll highlight here are all deserving of some coverage. Those three events are the 2010 LA Poker Open, the World Poker Tour Amneville and the Macau Poker Cup Championship.
2010 LA Poker Open
Beginning on November 3, the LA Poker Open is a fairly large series of events with buy-ins ranging between $125 and $2,085. Events in LA, and especially those held at the Commerce Casino, always draw huge fields. The opening event was a $220 no-limit hold��em event with re-entry allowed. There were four starting days for this tournament and a $400,000 guarantee slapped on it. Even better, the casino placed a $100,000 guarantee on first place alone! Those guarantees were met as the prize pool swelled to $468,160. Topping the field of 2,464 players was Vinh Duong from Rosemead, Calif. Here are the results.
| Buy-in | Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $220 | 2,464 | $468,160 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vinh Duong | $100,000 |
| 2 | Josh Golden | $58,860 |
| 3 | Jeff Barnes | $31,200 |
| 4 | Arman Tyfekchyan | $17,800 |
| 5 | Behzad Teranie | $13,000 |
| 6 | Christopher Haydt | $10,300 |
| 7 | Ilan Brand | $7,700 |
| 8 | Travis Carson | $6,100 |
| 9 | Albert Wallake | $4,800 |
Notable Finishes: Josh Brikis (75th - $1,100), Kenny Tran (81st - $800)
WPT Amneville
In Amneville, France, 542 players came out and ponied up the �3,200 buy-in for WPT Amneville. That generated a plump prize pool of �1,640,096. The bulk of that money was taken home by Sam El Sayed, who conquered the field for a first-place payday worth �426,425. With the win, Sayed more than nearly tripled his lifetime tournament winnings from $315,292 to $909,919.
| Buy-in | Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| �3,200 + �300 | 542 | �1,640,096 |
| Player | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam El Sayed | �426,425 |
| 2 | Franck Pepe | �229,613 |
| 3 | Ilan Boujenah | �161,550 |
| 4 | Nesrine Kourdourli | �109,886 |
| 5 | Wilfried Bresson | �79,545 |
| 6 | Jean-Paul Pasqualini | �62,323 |
| 7 | Julien Robert | �46,743 |
| 8 | Georges Chehade | �34,442 |
| 9 | Philipp Legath | �24,600 |
Notable Finishes: Nicolas Babel (16th - �13,120), Dominik Nitsche (26th - �11,480), John Eames (31st - �9,840)
Macau Poker Cup Championship
Macau is like a smaller version of Las Vegas, but the poker there is booming like crazy. The Macau Poker Cup Championship just concluded its 12-event series that drew in players from all around the world. The two events we��ll be highlighting are the Main Event and the 6-Max High Roller.
The Main Event attracted 254 players, all buying in for $20,000 HK. After a few days of play, the final table was set with players from many countries. Germany, China, Singapore, United States, Japan, Australia and France were all represented, but Germany walked away with the title. Julian Hasse claimed the $1,064,000 HK ($137,243 U.S.) for first place, beating out Kelly Flynn in heads-up play.
| Buy-in | Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| HK$20,000 | 254 | HK$4,626,864 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Julian Hasse | $1,064,000 HK |
| 2 | Kelly Flynn | $729,000 HK |
| 3 | Wee Tan | $440,000 HK |
| 4 | Chih Chung Chen | $347,000 HK |
| 5 | Takashi Ogura | $278,000 HK |
| 6 | Nathanael Seet | $231,000 HK |
| 7 | Kristian Lunardi | $185,000 HK |
| 8 | Richard Hu | $139,000 HK |
| 9 | William Pastout | $116,000 HK |
| 10 | Nelson Sheu | $92,864 HK |
Notable Finishes: Joel Dodds (11th - $69,000 HK), Jeffrey Lisandro (20th - $46,000 HK), Thomas Griggs (21st - $46,000 HK), Kai Paulsen (28th - $35,000 HK), Andrew Hinrichsen (30th - $35,000 HK)
The $50,000 HK 6-Max High Roller event attracted 28 players and paid out five spots. Walking away with the most money after winning the event was Nick Wong from China. It wasn��t easy getting the win, as Wong had to fight through David Steicke, Jeffrey Lisandro and Andrew Hinrichsen at the final table.
| Buy-in | Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| HK$50,000 | 28 | $1,316,700 HK |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Wong | $526,000 HK |
| 2 | Andrew Hinrichsen | $316,700 HK |
| 3 | Jeffrey Lisandro | $210,700 HK |
| 4 | Thomas Floan | $158,000 HK |
| 5 | David Steicke | $105,300 HK |
That wraps up a lot of tournament action. There��s going to be plenty more action next week, so be sure to check back with us at PokerNews to see if any of your favorite players, friends or family happened to go deep in an event. Be sure to follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and sign up for one of our awesome bonuses to get in on the action!
