Play commenced at blind level 25 (5,000/25,000/50,000) and it took only two hands to reduce the field to five: The shortstack Ted Lawson went preflop all-in with pocket 9s on Vanessa Rousso’s UTG raise to 125,000. Although flopping a set with the J 9 2 , the Q turn ruined his hand as Rousso had pocket Qs and the K on the river could not save him from being sent to the rail.
Antonio Esfandiari
After winning a huge pot against Rousso, Andrew Robl took the lead, eliminating Morrison at level 28. Racener and Rousso were both sent home by Esfandiari, who in turn doubled up so that he and Robl shared the chips almost 50-50. After a relatively long and respectful heads-up play, Robl eventually went all-in with Q T , which Esfandiari called, holding K J . The board fell A K 6 6 5 , giving the 2004 LA Poker Classic winner two pairs and the $870,000 first prize.
Final winnings were as follows:
Watch an interview with Esfandiari here:
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