After coming to the final table with a slim chip lead, veteran poker player Sean Jazayeri withstood the challenges from the “young guns” of the poker world en route to the championship of the World Poker Tour’s L. A. Poker Classic.
When the final table began on Wednesday, Jazayeri held a scant 370,000 chip lead over one of the up and coming players in the tournament poker world, David “Doc” Sands. Both of these gentlemen were over the four million chip mark, but other younger pros such as Noah Schwartz, 2010 World Series of Poker bracelet winner Dan “djk123” Kelly and two Jasons – Burt and Somerville – were poised to take down the big stacks. For both Burt and Somerville, the task would be difficult as they were at 835K and 840K in chips, respectively.
The six final tablists would waste little time getting the chips moving as, on the very second hand of play, one of them would be ushered out the door of the Commerce Casino. Somerville moved his stack to the center of the felt holding pocket eights and was looked up by Jazayeri’s suited A-Q. Somerville held the lead over the 7-4-4-2 flop and turn, but lightning in the form of a Queen hit on the river. After just a few moments, Jason Somerville was out in sixth place and Jazayeri had extended his lead.
Only ten hands later, the second short stack would be dismissed from the proceedings. Burt raised from the small blind in an attempt to push Kelly off his hand, but Kelly instead called. The twosome saw a K-4-3 flop and Burt led out with a continuation bet that was also called by Kelly. A queen on the turn opened up the floodgates as Burt bet 370K, only to see Kelly move all in. With only 600K in chips separating them, Burt made the call and tabled his off suit K-J; Kelly was betting on the come, holding a J-10 for the open ended straight draw. That straight draw hit on the river when an Ace appeared, completing Kelly’s straight and knocking Jason Burt out in fifth place.
The four remaining men settled in for a bit after Burt’s elimination, playing approximately twenty hands before the next knockout. After Jazayeri raised from under the gun and Kelly made the call from the button, Schwartz decided to put the squeeze on and moved all in. An undaunted Jazayeri pushed all in over the top, while Kelly decided discretion was the better part of valor and folded. Schwartz’ A-J was in tough shape against Jazayeri’s pocket Kings and the board didn’t help the situation, coming ten high and eliminating Noah Schwartz in fourth place.
Down to three players after only 35 hands, Jazayeri had increased his chip stack to 9.8 million, more than his opponents, Kelly (4.6 million) and Sands (two million) combined. After a short break, the triumvirate went back to work, in particular Sands.
Sands was able to go on a slight run that saw his stack pass Kelly, while Kelly would be able to get some of those chips back by doubling through Jazayeri. After approximately thirty hands of play, Sands would move into contention in a clash with Kelly when, on a Q-Q-3-A-5 board, Kelly could not call an all-in from Sands. The hand pushed Sands over the six million mark, while Kelly dropped below two million. Soon after this battle, Sands would complete the task and eliminate Dan Kelly when Kelly’s K-J couldn’t catch up to the pocket deuces of Sands.
When heads up play began, Sands had used his fight with Kelly to take a two million chip lead to battle against Jazayeri. Over the first ten hands of play, Sands was able to extend the chip lead to over 2:1 against the veteran player, but couldn’t close the deal. On the 19th hand of heads up play (and after Jazayeri had cut into Kelly’s lead), Jazayeri found a big double up when his Big Slick found an Ace against Sands’ pocket Queens. The hand would completely turn the leaderboard around and signal that the end was near.
On the very next hand, Jazayeri opened the action, only to see Sands push his remaining two million-plus chips to the center of the felt. Jazayeri wasted little time in calling, showing a suited A-5 against Sands’ off suit K-Q. The K-10-5 flop hit both players, but Sands maintained his lead. A Jack on the turn added to Sands’ dominance, giving him a shot at making a straight. But the river would end the tournament, coming with a five to give Sean Jazayeri trips to take down the L. A. Poker Classic championship.
1. Sean Jazayeri, $1,370,240
2. David Sands, $806,370
3. Dan Kelly, $521,770
4. Noah Schwartz, $355,750
5. Jason Burt, $252,980
6. Jason Somerville, $202,910
The WPT championship win is by far Jazayeri’s largest in his tournament poker career. Previous to this tournament, Jazayeri’s biggest cash was at a preliminary event for the Wynn Classic, where he took down slightly more than $48,000 for a second place finish. Now he is a World Poker Tour champion and will be in attendance when the WPT Championship takes place in April.
There’s no rest for the tournament poker world on the WPT circuit. Beginning on Monday, the WPT heads north to San Jose for the Bay 101 Shooting Stars, always one of the more popular tournaments on the WPT schedule due to its bounty format. For now, however, score one for the veterans as Sean Jazayeri outlasts the youngsters in Los Angeles.
