Alan Goehring, a relative newcomer to the world of big-name poker has made an impression this week, taking home the $2.4 million first prize in a tough six day tournament that attracted some of the best and biggest poker players anywhere.
The L.A. Poker Classic at Commerce Casino was the focus of professional poker and Hollywood celebrities alike, and some 700 players paid up the stiff $10,000 buy-in for this classic No-Limit Texas Hold ’em tournament.
Contestants included the likes of Phil Ivey, Men “The Master” Nguyen, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Jennifer Harman, Barry Greenstein, Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, Michael Gracz, Erick Lindgren, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, John Juanda, and Ted Forrest.
Among the cenebrity roster was Shannon Elizabeth, Gabe “Mr. Kotter” Kaplan, Los Angeles Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, Jennifer Tilly, and James Woods.
In tough games, 85 percent of the player pool was out of the running by the end of Day 2, leaving some 100 players to battle through another four days of hard-edged poker before the six final table players emerged.
Goehring and Daniel Quach were the last men standing in a final that took only an hour to decide. For his second place finish, Quach claimed $1.2 million, while Goehring took home $2.4 million and a $25K seat at the World Poker Tour Championships at the Bellagio in April.