It was one of the most action-packed final table plays ever seen in the history of the WPT LA Poker Classic, what with two of the biggest names in poker vying for the title as well as the juicy $1,654,120 first place prize. However, even though Carlos Mortensen and Vivek Rajkumar were two of the most formidable players ever to join the WPT, it was Gregory Brooks who would ultimately take down the first place prize as well as the prestigious WPT Title. He would battle it out against Vivek Rajkumar at Heads Up, wowing the poker industry with his well-controlled aggression and his refined technique.

Final Table Play

Six people came back for the Final table of the World Poker Tour (WPT) La Poker Classic $10,000 no-limit hold’em Main Event, all of them hoping that they would be the ones to claim that shiny first place prize. The first one to go home disappointed was Darryll Fish who was eliminated by Carlos Mortensen, WPT Behemoth. Fish took home $235,530 for all his efforts – not a bad deal, really, considering that’s just as big as some major tournament’s first place prizes. He was followed quickly by Steve Gross who was eliminated by Vivek Rajkumar. Gross took home an impressive $304,000. Next to go was Amir Lehavot who was eliminated by Rajkumar as well. Lehavot took home $421,680. At that point, it looked like we would be seeing a battle between two WPT Champions, Mortensen and Rajkumar.

But as it turned out, Mortensen would be the one to go at third place, courtesy of Gregory Brooks. All three players were actually partaking in the hand, until Rajkumar mucked. Brooks went all in after that, and Motensen called, placing all his chips on the line. But in the end, the cards favored Brooks, and Mortensen went home in third place. He banked $640,680 for his third-place finish, making his total WPT winnings amount to $6,394,988.

Heads Up Play

Finally, it was only Rajkumar and Brooks left to battle it out on the heads up portion of the tournament. At the final hand, Gregory Brooks fearlessly raised to 325,000 at the preflop. Rajkumar called and the flop was revealed to be 7D3S2H. Brooks’ hand was 8S7C while Rajkmuar had JH10H. With a pair in his hands, Brooks found the courage to bet 400,000 and Rajkumar ruminated for a while before finally deciding to check-raise all in for 3.5 million. The turn was revealed to be 2D and the river was revealed to be AS, neither were any help to Rajkumar, allowing Brooks to step up and seize the victory for himself.

Rajkumar went home with $908,730 and Brooks won the first place prize of $1,654,120.