Darren Elias is the Phil Hellmuth of the World Poker Tour. On Sunday, he again advanced to Day Three in the 2019 WPT L.A. Poker Classic with a big stack along with 107 other players.
Elias has four career WPT titles, 12 final table appearances, and also 32 cashes, all records. In May, he won the Bobby Baldwin Classic at Aria to become the first four-time champion in the tour’s 17-year history.
Work Left to Do
He isn’t guaranteed a 33rd cash just yet, but he’s in great shape. Elias is one of 108 players who advanced to Day Three in the $10,000 buy-in L.A. Poker Classic. And he’s seventh in chips (385,000). Andrey Zaichenko leads the way with 949,500.
The tournament began on Saturday with 546 entries. As a result, the winner will take home over $1 million. But the final table won’t begin until March 11 in Las Vegas at the Esports Arena on the Strip instead of Los Angeles.
Three additional World Poker Tour final tables are scheduled in back-to-back-to-back days beginning March 11 from the same venue, which includes two other tour events.
The LAPC money bubble will burst on Monday. Only 69 of the remaining players will leave the Commerce Casino with cash. We don’t typically make predictions but we’d say the odds are pretty good that Elias will survive the bubble.
Many big name pros, however, entered but didn’t make it to Day Three. That includes Alex Foxen, David Williams, Rainer Kempe, Chino Rheem, Kristen Bicknell, John Hennigan, and Tony Dunst.
Superstars Still in Action
When play resumes at noon PT on Monday, a plethora of skilled pros will return to the Commerce Casino. One of those players isn’t Anthony Zinno who, like Elias, always seems to run deep in WPT events, but not this time.
Zinno is tied for second all-time, behind Elias, in WPT titles (3) and cashes (29). He was eliminated on Day Two, meaning Elias’ record is safe for now.
The Darren Elias of the World Series of Poker, Phil Hellmuth, also busted on Day Two. But his good buddy Mike Matusow bagged and tagged. “The Mouth” made it through with a chip stack right around the tournament average (129,000).
Other Notable Chip Counts Entering Day Three
- Jake Schindler (328,500)
- Faraz Jaka (278,500)
- Dan Shak (219,000)
- J.C. Tran (155,500)
- Billy Baxter (129,500)
- David “ODB” Baker (122,500)
- Sam Soverel (73,500)
Play resumes at noon PT on Monday. The final table will be set after Wednesday’s session to be completed March 11 in Las Vegas.
