LA Poker Classic a sell-out

The L.A. Poker Classic started over the weekend at the classy Commerce Casino near Los Angeles, attracting 791 players who each bought in for a $10 000 shot at the hotly contested $2.4 million first place prize. Players who survive to the final table are guaranteed to win at least $250 000.

By way of comparison, the 2005 event pulled in 538 players and was won by Michael Mizrachi and in 2006, when Alan Goehring was the victor the field had grown to 692 players.

The top 54 players this year will be in a 'money bubble' of a prize pool worth over $7.9 million, which makes the 2007 L.A. Poker Classic the largest $10 000 buy-in event in the history of the World Poker Tour. Initial reports indicate that the crush of players necessitated special extension arrangements to fit everyone in.

Once play got underway the pace was fast and furious, with only 368 players qualifying for Day 2 of the six day event. Play is limited to 12 hours a day, with each level lasting 90 minutes. The first day started mid-afternoon, with each player holding a chip stack worth $20 000.

Last year's World Series of Poker champion Jamie Gold was among the first to exit, followed by top ace Daniel Negreanu. He was not the only big name to fall early by the wayside - last year's winner Alan Goehring did not make it to Day 2 either, and other notable players who busted out included Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo, Mark Seif, Chip Jett, Layne Flack, Tuan Le, Vanessa Rousso, Joe Hachem, Evelyn Ng, Gus Hansen, Clonie Gowen, Huck Seed, Antonio Esfandiari, Cyndy Violette, Dan Harrington, Allen Cunningham, Scott Fischman, John Juanda, Davidson Matthew, Lee Watkinson, Tony Cousineau, David Williams, Jim Bechtel, Padraig Parkinson, Amir Vahedi, Chris Grigorian, Farzad Bonyadi, Eric Froelich, Jerry Buss, James Van Alstyne, Kevin O'Donnell, Hasan Habib, Sammy Farha, John Gale, JJ Liu, John Phan, Alex Jacob, Mike Gracz, Bill Gazes, and Jennifer Tilly.

When play ended in the early hours of the morning Joe Sebok looked to be in the strongest chip position, although the official count was still awaited. But the field is still chock-a-block with seriously good professional players, and plenty of exciting action is surely still in store. Play resumes today.