Anthony Zinno Wins Back-to-Back WPT Titles at LAPC

Tonight was a historic evening on the World Poker Tour. Anthony Zinno topped a field of 538 players in the $10,000 single-entry WPT LA Poker Classic, a tournament that features one of the toughest fields of the year. But that is only where the accomplishments of the night begin for Zinno. He tied a number of WPT records with his victory tonight. Zinno cashed for the seventh time this season, tying the all-time record for a single season. He became the third player in WPT history to score back-to-back wins, and he tied Carlos Mortensen and Gus Hansen for most career WPT victories with his third title.

The fact that he won it at one of the marquee stops on the tour, and beat a table that included a stable of talented professionals made it even more significant. Zinno also tightened his grip on the Season XIII Player of the Year race to a stranglehold on a night that will leave its mark in the WPT history books for years to come.

Here is a look at the seating chart and chip counts when cards got into the air this afternoon just before 4 p.m. PT.

Seat 1. Anthony Zinno – 1,480,000 (37 bb)
Seat 2. Igor Yaroshevskyy – 5,315,000 (132 bb)
Seat 3. Chris Klodnicki – 920,000 (23 bb)
Seat 4. Peter Tran – 1,585,000 (39 bb)
Seat 5. Peter Neff – 2,120,000 (53 bb)
Seat 6. Mike Leah – 4,715,000 (117 bb)

It took the final table a little while to get fully warmed up before the chips started flying. Peter Tran doubled up on the 20th hand of play, but Chris Klodnicki doubled thru Tran eight hands later. Just three hands after that, Tran was all-in again for the last time. He held K7 when the money got in on a board reading 87610 but Mike Leah held 92 for a straight. There was no rescue for Tran when the A fell on the river, and the perennial chip leader from Days 2-4 in the tournament was out in sixth place, good for $200,830.

During the next stretch of play Mike Leah became very active and at one point he held over half the chips in play. Anthony Zinno scored a double up thru Peter Neff on Hand 56, and one hand later those two players dueled again. Neff had his tournament hopes pinned on AQ and he was ahead of the KQ held by Zinno, but the board ran out J107A5. Neff was out in fifth place, good for $250,260.

The action continued a few hands later when Igor Yaroshevskyy doubled up to survive at the expense of Klodnicki on the 61st hand of play. After that a long, long stretch of four-handed play set in as Klodnicki doubled up twice and Zinno doubled up three times before the next elimination. That bustout came when Yaroshevskyy moved all in preflop on Hand 142 just before 11 p.m. He held KQ and Leah was his opponent with K8. The board was dealt A778Jand Yaroshevskyy was out in fourth place, good for $333,680.

Zinno then doubled up thru Leah two more times to take the chip lead. Klodnicki then took his next turn all-in on Hand 161, and he did not find the result he was looking for. Klodnicki held KJ but he was behind the 66 of Zinno. The board ran out 532105 and Klodnicki was eliminated in third place, good for $451,090.

The elimination punch gave Zinno a big lead at the start of the heads-up final with 11.5 million. Leah had some work to do catching up with 4,625,000. The heads-up match was the antithesis of the final table that preceded it. It took us 160 hands to get down to heads-up play, but just 13 hands of heads-up play to determine a champion.

The 13th hand proved to be an unlucky one for Leah. He picked the wrong time to move all in with A3 because Zinno held a cooler in the form of AA. The board hit the table 105235 and Leah was eliminated in second place. Leah was awarded $701,350 for his deep run in the event, and he took home an additional $10,000 as the last Skrill-patched player standing.

Zinno won the WPT LA Poker Classic, earning $1,015,860, which includes a $15,400 entry into the season-ending WPT World Championship. Zinno also received a WPT Champions Trophy, a pair of gold Monster 24K Headphones, and a Hublot Oceanographic 4000 Watch. Zinno’s name is already on the WPT Champions Cup, but it will now be added a third time with two diamonds next to his name to signify that he won two titles before this one. Congrats to our repeat champion, Anthony Zinno!

Final Table Results:

1st: Anthony Zinno – $1,015,860
2nd: Mike Leah – $701,350
3rd: Chris Klodnicki – $451,090
4th: Igor Yaroshevskyy – $333,680
5th: Peter Neff – $250,260
6th: Peter Tran – $200,830

That concludes our live coverage from the WPT LA Poker Classic. Thanks once again to one of our WPT charter member properties, the Commerce Casino, for hosting another great event. Thanks also to Joe Giron for the amazing photography in tonight’s coverage, you can find more of his work on the website www.pokerphotoarchive.com. The WPT heads north a few days from now to the San Francisco Bay Area for the second stop on the California Swing. The WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star will run from March 9-13 in San Jose, and the WPT Live Updates team will bring you all of the action.