2010 LA Poker Classic Event #1 Won By Comeback King Darell Cain
January 28, 2010 8:43 amSacramento’s Darell Cain has been crowned Event #1 LA Poker Classic champion at the Commerce Casino, after overcoming a field of 5,847 players at the $335 buy-in tournament to take the title and the impressive $363,936 first prize.
The field actually attracted 3,791 players but tournament director Matt Savage has been making a few innovations to the tournament lately, including allowing players who were eliminated in the first three opening days of the competition to buy back in on Day 2. The net outcome was 2,083 repeat entries and an almost doubled guaranteed prize pool from $1,000,000 to $1.75 million.
In what must be one of the greatest turnabouts in poker history, Darell Cain had lost a massive pot and thought he had been knocked out in 4th spot for $88,220. He was out of his seat making his way out of the tournament hall when he was called back by one of the players at the table who noticed he still had eight chips left. Cain probably would have thought it was hardly worth the return journey at the time, but as the expression goes, “All you need is a chip and a chair.”
Darell Cain then went on to acquire all the chips at the table with his 8 chip stack and take down the $363,936 top prize. Following his remarkable victory, Cain said: “It’s unbelievable. Those eight little green chips…Man, the good lord was looking over me. I’m just elated.”
LAPC Tournament Director Matt Savage must have seen many unusual happenings at the poker tables during his career but this one will surely stick in his mind. Following the incredible turn of events, Savage said: “Darrell Cain’s win shows that it doesn’t take a miracle to win hundreds of thousands of dollars at Commerce Casino’s LAPC, it just takes staying in the game. We applaud Darrell’s never-give-up attitude and congratulate him on his victory.”
The LA Poker Classic is a series of over 50 different tournaments and will continue to run until March 4th creating a total prize pool in excess of $20 million.