Yevgeney Podolsky Takes Top Honors at 2008 California State Poker Championship
On Sunday Sepetember 21, 2008, 484 players took to the felt at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, California. They were there to take part in the 18th - and last - event of the 2008 California State Poker Championships. This NLHE competition was in fact the Main Event. By the end of the tournament, a new California State champion would be crowned. Last year's winner, Eric Crisp, earned nearly $325,000 for his win.
This year's winner would join Crisp and Academy-Award winning actor Ben Affleck as California State poker champions. The total prize pool in this tournament was an impressive $704,220 with nearly $200,000 guaranteed to the top finisher…sure that's less than last year, but still good for a few hours of concentrated work, right?
45 players were guaranteed at least $3,870. Gioi Luong , a regular player at the Commerce, who cashed in a total of four events at this year's series, including a win in the 12th event, a $300 buy-in NLHE tourney with a payday of nearly $70,000, narrowly missed the final table. Gioi, who came in third in Event #40 this summer at the WSOP, took eleventh place in this event.
In the end, two players remained. Jack Kan of Rosemead, CA and Yevgeney Podolsky of Granada Hills. Neither had cashed in this series before. However, Kan has had some tournament success prior to this. Podolsky didn't let his lack of experience get him down. Both players were looking at a six-figure payday. The last pot went Podolsky's wan and he collected $183,120 and will proudly carry the mantle of California State Poker Champion for the next 12 months.
These are the final results:
1) Yevgeney Podolsky - $183,120 2) Jack Kan - $106,340 3) Anthony Tao - $70,420 4) Danny Cruz - $48,590 5) Mario Esquerra - $35,910 6) George Yutuc - $28,170 7) Rezar Patvar - $21,130 8) Steven Doebler - $15,490 9) Warren Karp - $11,270
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