Tao of Poker

Unknown Wins $2.4 Million at L.A. Poker Classic

By Pauly


Do you know who Eric Hershler is? He's the lucky mofo who played in his first live tournament and came from behind to beat JC Tran to win $2.4 million at the L.A. Poker Classic. The suits at the WPT must be cumming in their pants after a nobody came out of nowhere to win the largest WPT $10K event in their five year history. Yep, that's tournament poker these days, where the luckiest player beats out the best players in the world.

I wrote a full recap of Day 6 and the final table for Poker News. Take a peek.


JC Tran
(Photo Credit: Amy Calistri)
JC Tran has proven himself to be one of the toughest players on the circuit. He also won the largest ever online tournament a few months ago when he took down the WCOOP at PokerStars.

Paul Wasicka is not a fluke. The 2006 WSOP runner-up put on an impressive performance at the Aussie Millions and he played amazing poker for six straight days at Commerce.


Daddy's favorite: Chau Giang
(Photo Credit: Amy Calistri)
Chau Giang is one of the best players in the world. He loves poker, plays in the highest stakes cash games in Las Vegas, and will gamble on anything.

Yet, Hershler, the amateur who's originally from South Africa, emerged victorious and took home $2.4 million after he outlasted 790 other players. He also won a $25K seat into the WPT Championships next month at the Bellagio. Hershler now joins an elite group of previous winners that included Gus Hansen (2003), Antonio Esfandiari (2004), Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (2005), and Alan Goehring (2006).

JC Tran blew a tremendous chiplead to finish in second place. He doubled up Hershler on two decisive hands which cost him the tournament. On the last hand and the only hand of heads-up play, Tran flopped an ace with A-7, but Hershler flopped two pair with Jd-6d. Tran still won $1.1 million for his efforts. Here's the final table results:

1 Eric Hershler $2,429,970
2 JC Tran $1,177,010
3 Jacobo Fernandez $607,490
4 Paul Wasicka $455,615
5 Chau Giang $341,710
6 David Bach $257,425

You can head over to Poker News to read the live blog of the final table.


Eric Hershler - 2007 WPT LA Poker Classic Champion
(Photo Credit: BJ Nemeth)
Poker News blew everyone else away at the LAPC as far as media coverage goes. That's a testament to the amazing crew that Schecky assembled which included Shronk, Lavalli, Calistri, Change100, and Tiffany. Thanks to everyone who linked us up and followed along. And special thanks to the other members of my team who stepped up when I got super sick last week.

The next event that I will be doing for Poker News will be covering the Euoprean Poker Tour's Championships. The EPT Grand Finale will be held in Monte Carlo at the end of the month and a few of us will be there providing top notch coverage.

Aussie Millions. LAPC. Next up... the EPT Championships in Monte Carlo.

Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker. All rights reserved.