Commerce Casino's LA Poker Classic

The Commerce Casino's LA Poker Classic is part of an annual high-rolling poker tournament series. The Championship event will be televised on the Travel Channel on Wednesday nights at 9:00pm PT/ET. The buy-in for this West Coast No Limit Hold 'Em event is $10,000.

The LA Poker Classic is supposed to attract at least 400 players from February 16-21. Thus, the prize pool should reach over $7,000,000 and the first prize will probably be $2,000,000.

There are scheduled satellites during all of January and February. Super Satellite Day, a day full of satellites is another option provided in order to enable entry into this event.

On January 19th, Los Angeles, California's Commerce Casino begins the month long poker celebration with the LA Poker Classic. It has proved to be one of the fiercest competitive tournaments ever.

Last year, poker rookie, Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari won first place, raking in $1.8 million.

The Championship Event is scheduled to take place on February 24th this year.

In addition, the LA Poker Classic presents the sole “invitation only” World Poker Tour occasion. This invitational event gathers film and TV stars and matches them against pro poker players from all over the globe. Following the closing of the Championship Event, the World Poker Tour Invitational starts on February 22nd.

In 2006, the WPT Invitational starred many celebrities, among them, Mimi Rogers, James Woods, Jennifer Tilly and Tobey Maguire.

In 2007, 28 events will be presented at the LA Poker Classic, along with the World Poker Tour Invitational and the $10,000 Championship Event.

In opposition to the standard casino mode, instead of having only No-Limit Poker, the LA Poker Classic will offer diverse events including Limit, Pot Limit, Omaha Hi/Lo, and Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo. The buy-ins will be anywhere from $300 to the $10,000 Championship Event fee.

This year, 2 brand-new additional events will be brought to the tournament arena. The first new LA Poker Classic event, a Ladies' Only No-Limit Tournament, is to take place on January 28th. The second new event is a Tag Team tournament, scheduled to take place on Valentine's Day. The tag teams, each comprised of 2 players, will reach for the championship by switching out as the blinds rise.

During the LA Poker Classic, the Commerce Casino will have more than 200 casino tables, ranging from traditional poker games to California games, such as Pai Gow and Mexican Poker, among others.

John Tucker - Editorial Manager