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Daniel Strelitz has won the 2017 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Clasic $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event. The 27-year-old poker pro based out of Orange, CA overcame a field of 521 players to win his first WPT title and the top prize of $1,001,110.
“I feel amazing, it’s really unbelievable,' Strelitz told WPT reporters after winning it all. 'Me making this run just feels so good, especially since I’ve been living in SoCal my whole life. This is the biggest tournament you can win in SoCal, and to just win it is unbelievable.”
This was Strelitz’s first-ever seven-figure score. His largest prior live tournament cash came when he finished second in a $5,000 no-limit hold’em event at last year’s World Series of Poker for $338,774. He now has career lifetime live earnings of $2,619,471.
In addition to the title and the money, Strelitz was also awarded 2,100 Card Player Player of the Year points. This massive win was enough to catapult him into third place on the Player of the Year leaderboard, which is brought to you in 2017 by the very same casino that hosted this tournament, the Commerce Hotel & Casino.
Strelitz came into the final day as the commanding chip leader, with his 6,485,000 stack being more than twice the size of any other stack belonging to the rest of the final six players. Although he had a sizable lead, he also had tough competition to deal with including three WSOP bracelet winners in Jesse Martin, Mike Sexton and Simeon Naydenov. Sexton was the only player at the final table going for a second title on the World Poker Tour, with the Hall of Famer and longtime commentator for the WPT having taken down his first in the WPT Montreal event last fall.
Strelitz eliminated Sexton, calling his short-stacked button shove from the big blind with the A7. Sexton was ahead with the KK but Strelitz overtook the lead right away with a flop of AJ7. The turn brought the 9 and the river the A to lock up the pot for Strelitz, increasing his chip lead and sending Sexton to the rail in fourth place. Sexton earned $300,690 for his impressive run.
Three-handed play lasted for more than 60 hands. In the end Simeon Naydenov won a race with pocket eights versus poker pro Jared Griener AQ to send him to the rail in third place ($431,340) and set up the final heads-up showdown.
Naydenov began with a slight chip advantage over Strelitz, but both players started two-handed play with more than 70 big blinds. The two battled for 40 hands, with Strelitz jumping out to quick lead. Naydenov was able to mount a few comebacks, but eventually Strelitz began to pull away.
By the time the final hand arose Strelitz had roughly a 2-to-1 lead with blidns at 60,000 – 120,000 with an ante of 20,000. Strelitz raised to 260,000 from the button and Naydenov called The flop brought the Q76 and Naydenov checked. Strelitz bet 325,000, and Naydenov opeted to go for the check-raise to 975,000.
Strelitz made the call and the turn brought the 8. Naydenov checked and Strelitz bet 1,350,000. Naydenov went into the tan a but before electing to move all-in for 3,860,000. Strelitz made a quick call with the 54 for a turned straight. Naydenov was drawing dead with the KQ for top pair. The 4 on the river was a mere formality as the pot and title were already locked up for Strelitz. Naydenov earned $672,190 for his runner-up finish.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
| 1 | Daniel Strelitz | $1,001,110 | 2100 |
| 2 | Simeon Naydenov | $672,190 | 1750 |
| 3 | Jared Griener | $431,340 | 1400 |
| 4 | Mike Sexton | $300,690 | 1050 |
| 5 | Jesse Martin | $230,380 | 875 |
| 6 | Richard Tuhrim | $191,490 | 700 |
| 7 | Matt Berkey | $161,320 | 525 |
| 8 | Joseph Serock | $128,650 | 350 |
| 9 | James Calderaro | $96,640 | 175 |
Winners photo courtesy of Joe Giron / World Poker Tour.
Below are the results of season seven of the World Poker Tour (2008-2009). The WPT Celebrity Invitational had the first female winner of the WPT.
- 1Results
Results[edit]
Spanish Championship[edit]
- Casino: Casino Barcelona, Barcelona[1]
- Buy-in: €5,000
- 5-Day Event: Friday, May 23, 2008 to Tuesday, May 27, 2008
- Number of Entries: 253
- Total Prize Pool: €1,278,396 ($1,993,072)
- Number of Payouts: 27
Video Poker For Winners Download
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Casper Hansen | €425,000 ($662,592) |
| 2nd | Stefan Mattsson | €220,000 ($342,989) |
| 3rd | Thiago Nishijima | €112,300 ($175,080) |
| 4th | Andres Vidal | €87,400 ($136,260) |
| 5th | Guy Sitbon | €75,000 ($116,928) |
| 6th | Martin Lundenius | €62,300 ($97,128) |
Bellagio Cup IV[edit]
- Casino:Bellagio, Las Vegas[1]
- Buy-in: $15,000
- 7-Day Event: Friday, July 11, 2008 to Thursday, July 17, 2008
- Number of Entries: 446
- Total Prize Pool: $6,489,300
- Number of Payouts: 100
- Winning Hand: Q♥9♠
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Mike Watson | $1,673,770 |
| 2nd | David Benyamine | $840,295 |
| 3rd | Luke Staudenmaier | $452,465 |
| 4th | Ralph Perry | $290,900 |
| 5th | John Phan | $193,915 |
| 6th | Gabriel Thaler | $129,275 |
Legends of Poker[edit]
- Casino:Bicycle Casino, Los Angeles[1]
- Buy-in: $10,000
- 6-Day Event: Saturday, August 23, 2008 to Thursday, August 28, 2008
- Number of Entries: 373
- Total Prize Pool: $3,520,738
- Number of Payouts: 36
- Winning Hand: 3♠3♥
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | John Phan | $1,116,428 |
| 2nd | Amit Makhija | $563,320 |
| 3rd | Zachary Clark | $281,645 |
| 4th | Paul Smith | $246,450 |
| 5th | Trong Nguyen | $211,245 |
| 6th | Kyle Wilson | $176,035 |
Borgata Poker Open[edit]
- Casino:Borgata, Atlantic City[1]
- Buy-in: $10,000
- 5-Day Event: Sunday, September 14, 2008 to Thursday, September 18, 2008
- Number of Entries: 516
- Total Prize Pool: $5,000,000
- Number of Payouts: 54
- Winning Hand: A♦J♠
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Vivek Rajkumar | $1,424,500 |
| 2nd | Sang Kim | $750,000 |
| 3rd | Dan Heimiller | $387,500 |
| 4th | Jason Strochak | $337,500 |
| 5th | Mark Seif | $287,500 |
| 6th | Andrew Knee | $237,500 |
North American Poker Championship[edit]
- Casino: Fallsview Casino Resort, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada[1]
- Buy-in:C$10,000 (US$8,500)
- 7-Day Event: Friday, October 10, 2008 to Thursday, October 16, 2008
- Number of Entries: 454
- Total Prize Pool: C$4,374,475 (US$3,829,391)
- Number of Payouts: 45
- Winning Hand: A♠K♠
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Glen Witmer | C$1,250,352 (US$1,084,256) |
| 2nd | Gavin Smith | C$612,427 (US$542,129) |
| 3rd | Kathy Liebert | C$319,337 (US$282,682) |
| 4th | Ryan Fisler | C$262,469 (US$232,341) |
| 5th | Marc Karam | C$196,851 (US$174,255) |
| 6th | James Trenholm | C$153,107 (US$135,533) |
Festa Al Lago[edit]
- Casino: Bellagio, Las Vegas [1]
- Buy-in: $15,000
- 7-Day Event: Monday, October 20, 2008 to Sunday, October 26, 2008
- Number of Entries: 368
- Total Prize Pool: $5,354,000
- Number of Payouts: 50
- Winning Hand: 10♥10♠
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Bertrand Grospellier | $1,411,015 |
| 2nd | Nam Le | $943,215 |
| 3rd | Osmin Dardon | $506,245 |
| 4th | Nenad Medic | $373,010 |
| 5th | Adam Levy | $266,445 |
| 6th | Will Mietz | $186,510 |
Foxwoods World Poker Finals[edit]
- Casino: Foxwoods, Mashantucket, Connecticut
- Buy-in: $10,000
- 7-Day Event: Wednesday, November 5, 2008 to Tuesday, November 11, 2008
- Number of Entries: 412
- Total Prize Pool: $3,876,508
- Number of Payouts: 50
- Winning Hand: A♣Q♥
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Jonathan Little | $1,120,310 |
| 2nd | Jonathan Jaffe | $670,636 |
| 3rd | Charles Marchese | $337,256 |
| 4th | David Pham | $240,344 |
| 5th | Jack Schanbacher | $182,196 |
| 6th | Mike Matusow | $124,048 |
Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic[edit]
- Casino: Bellagio, Las Vegas
- Buy-in: $15,000
- 7-Day Event: Saturday, December 13, 2008 to Friday, December 19, 2008
- Number of Entries: 497
- Total Prize Pool: $7,231,350
- Number of Payouts: 100
- Winning Hand:K♦K♠
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | David Rheem | $1,538,730 |
| 2nd | Justin Young | $936,760 |
| 3rd | Evan McNiff | $540,440 |
| 4th | Steve Sung | $396,205 |
| 5th | Amnon Filippi | $288,235 |
| 6th | Hoyt Corkins | $216,175 |
Southern Poker Championship[edit]
- Casino:Beau Rivage, Biloxi
- Buy-in: $10,000
- 4-Day Event: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 to Saturday, January 17, 2009
- Number of Entries: 283
- Total Prize Pool: $2,662,747
- Number of Payouts: 27
- Winning Hand:A♦4♥
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Allen Carter | $1,025,500 |
| 2nd | Bobby Suer | $501,028 |
| 3rd | Soheil Shamseddin | $263,725 |
| 4th | Hilbert Shirey | $184,607 |
| 5th | Tyler Smith | $134,500 |
| 6th | Chuck Kim | $105,490 |
L.A. Poker Classic[edit]
- Casino:Commerce Casino, Los Angeles
- Buy-in: $10,000
- 6-Day Event: Saturday, February 21, 2009 to Thursday, February 26, 2009
- Number of Entries: 696
- Total Prize Pool: $6,681,600
- Number of Payouts: 63
- Winning Hand: K♣5♣
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Cornel Andrew Cimpan | $1,686,760 |
| 2nd | Binh Nguyen | $935,424 |
| 3rd | Mike Sowers | $654,797 |
| 4th | Chris Karagulleyan | $430,963 |
| 5th | Pat Walsh | $310,694 |
| 6th | Chris Ferguson | $240,538 |
Bay 101 Shooting Star[edit]
- Casino:Bay 101, San Jose, California
- Buy-in: $10,000
- 5-Day Event: Monday, March 16, 2009 to Friday, March 20, 2009
- Number of Entries: 391
- Total Prize Pool: $3 714 500
- Number of Payouts: 45
- Winning Hand: A♣9♥
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Steve Brecher | $1,025,500 |
| 2nd | Kathy Liebert | $550,000 |
| 3rd | Chris Moore | $291,500 |
| 4th | Tony Behari | $230,000 |
| 5th | Thao Le | $180,000 |
| 6th | Chau Vu | $135,000 |
Foxwoods Poker Classic[edit]
- Casino: Foxwoods, Mashantucket, Connecticut
- Buy-in: $10,000
- 6-Day Event: Friday, April 3, 2009 to Wednesday, April 8, 2009
- Number of Entries: 259
- Total Prize Pool: $2,436,930
- Number of Payouts: 30
- Winning Hand: 7♠6♠
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Vadim Trincher | $731,079 |
| 2nd | Amnon Filippi | $409,405 |
| 3rd | Lenny Cortellino | $214,449 |
| 4th | Matt Casterella | $138,905 |
| 5th | Alex Perelberg | $106,007 |
| 6th | Joe Raposa | $85,292 |
WPT World Championship[edit]
- Casino: Bellagio, Las Vegas
- Buy-in: $25,000
- 8-Day Event: Saturday, April 18, 2009 to Saturday, April 25, 2009
- Number of Entries: 338
- Total Prize Pool: $8,172,250
- Number of Payouts: 50
- Winning Hand: A♠3♣
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Yevgeniy Timoshenko | $2,143,655 |
| 2nd | Ran Azor | $1,441,975 |
| 3rd | Bertrand Grospellier | $773,940 |
| 4th | Christian Harder | $570,265 |
| 5th | Shannon Shorr | $407,340 |
| 6th | Scotty Nguyen | $285,135 |
Other Events[edit]
During season 7 of the WPT there were two special events that did not apply to the Player of the Year standings:
The Bike
- The LA Poker Classic Heads Up Championship - February 18-20, 2009 - Commerce Casino - prelude to Event #10: L.A. Poker Classic
- The WPT Celebrity Invitational - Feb 28 - Mar 2, 2009 - Commerce Casino - postscript to Event #10: L.A. Poker Classic
References[edit]
- ^ abcdef'World Poker Tour Season 7 results'. theHendonMob.com. Retrieved 2008-10-14.