Eric Hershler Wins WPT L.A. Poker Classic

The cards fell the right way in the final hour for Eric Hershler last week, as he made an improbable run to snatch the L.A. Poker Classic title from the hands of J.C. Tran. For besting 791 players, Hershler won $2,429,970 and a $25,000 seat at the WPT Championship.

Tran was the chip leader by a small margin entering final table play, with just shy of $3.5 million in chips. The six player field was fairly compact, with five of the six with at least $2 million.

In typical WPT fashion, the players dinked and dunked in the beginning, with no real fireworks until the inevitable skyrocketing blind structure kicked in. It took around three and a half hours for the first player, David Bach, to be eliminated. After that, it only took another three hours to finish off the tournament.

Tran dominated most of the way, quickly adding about $1.5 million within the first twenty hands. By the time Bach was eliminated, Tran had amassed $6.2 million. A few hands later, his stack was up to $6.5 million, then $7.1 million after eliminating Chau Giang in fifth place, and then $9 million after knocking out 2006 WSOP runner-up Paul Wasicka in fourth place. With three players left, J.C. Tran had more chips than both Jacobo Fernandez and Eric Hershler combined.

But this was, after all, the World Poker Tour, which meant it was time to see who received the best cards, as the blinds were up to $200,000/$400,000 with a $50,000 ante. Even the chip leader barely had more than twenty big blinds left. Let the all-in fest begin (as if it hadn’t already).

Eight hands after Wasicka was eliminated, Tran moved all-in from the small blind in an obvious attempt to steal Hershler’s big blind. Hershler called all-in with K-Q, while Tran had only 10-7. The best hand held up and Hershler had doubled through Tran, although he was still short on chips.

Two hands later, he did it again, dominating Tran with Q-10 versus J-10. After that Tran still had a solid lead with $7.4 million, but Hershler was back in it, only one big blind behind Fernandez with $4 million.

Hershler then crippled Fernandez with another dominant hand: K-10 versus K-3, although Fernandez had the sense to fold after being raised all-in on the flop. Hershler finished the job by destroying Fernandez’s J-2 with A-A. Fernandez actually rivered trip 2’s, but an Ace on the flop made the river meaningless.

All of a sudden, Hershler was the chip leader going into heads-up, albeit by only three big blinds. His run only continued for one more hand, but it was the winning hand. On a flop of A-J-6, both players were all-in, Hershler with J-6 for two pair, and Tran with A-7 for top pair. Tran was unable to find another card and it was all over, just like that.

Originally published 6:53 PM Wednesday, March 07, 2007