Once Prominent LAPC Main Event Registration Closes with Just 50 Entries

Balakrishna Patur received the 2020 LA Poker Traditional Primary Occasion for $1,015,000, beating out 490 entrants in what was arguably essentially the most prestigious non-World Collection of Poker (WSOP) match within the U.S. on the time.

That was, nonetheless, the final 12 months the World Poker Tour (WPT) partnered with Commerce On line casino in Los Angeles to host the $10,000 buy-in main poker match. Since then, the occasion has seen such a speedy decline that registration within the 2026 version closed on Monday with simply 50 entries. Sure, 50. First place will likely be paid $158,030 of the $465,000 prize pool.

To place issues in perspective, David “ODB” Baker received this similar occasion (minus the WPT branding) in 2019 for $1,015,000, almost triple this 12 months’s whole prize pool. So, what precisely occurred to this once-prominent poker occasion that attracted professionals and leisure gamers from all around the world? We requested some Los Angeles professionals that very same query.

What Occurred to the LA Poker Traditional Primary Occasion?

The LA Poker Traditional Primary Occasion was a uncommon occasion in that it was one among simply three tournaments among the many WPT schedule every of the tour’s first 18 years. That partnership, nonetheless, ended after COVID. Nevertheless it does not seem like the one motive for the huge decline in attendance.

“It is unfair to check WPT and WSOP-sponsored occasions to non-sponsored ones, however the falloff within the Commerce Primary is certainly extra drastic than anticipated,” Los Angeles poker participant Derek Kwan mentioned.

Kwan mentioned post-COVID poker in Los Angeles “took lots longer normally to recuperate than most main stops throughout the nation.” He defined that many throughout the native poker group believed that the poker rooms, on the time, needed to focus extra on extra profitable desk video games as a substitute of poker, particularly tournaments. The restoration, whereas lengthy, did begin to flip round with Commerce internet hosting the World Collection of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) the previous couple of years and Parkwest Bicycle On line casino additionally having some large occasions.

“However poker nonetheless felt like a second-class citizen,” Kwan mentioned. “The LAPC particularly has misplaced its luster. It was the flagship occasion for Commerce, however proper now feels nearly no totally different than every other non-WSOP collection through the 12 months. Advertising and marketing has not been nice, little or no social media promotion, no media protection, and nothing to try to make the Primary Occasion, or the collection total, really feel ‘particular.’ Commerce additionally appears overly delicate to overlays, which results in decrease ensures and additional contributes to lack of pleasure and atteendance.”

The Primary Occasion as soon as had a $5 million assured prize pool. In 2023, the match promised not less than $1 million within the pot, and Alex Petrosian received it for $401,650, beating out a subject of 181 entrants. That was the final 12 months the occasion had a assured prize pool.

Gus Hansen, months earlier than poker went mainstream because of Chris Moneymaker’s WSOP Primary Occasion win, was the inaugural WPT LA Poker Traditional Champion in 2003. He took down the celebrated match for $532,490, beating a subject of 136 entrants. The sector skyrocketed to 382 entries the subsequent 12 months, and Antonio Esfandiari received it for $1,399,136.

It received even greater in 2005 when present world champion Michael Mizrachi received his first main poker title for $1,859,909 in a subject 538 entrants. The 2026 LA Poker Traditional Primary Occasion pales compared to previous editions, and never simply the WPT period fields. This 12 months’s model is the bottom turnout in match historical past.

“LA has some native regs who will play 10k’s, however the lack of a assure with tons of competitors higher choices this weekend, it is simply gonna undergo,” Matt Salsberg, a WPT champion, mentioned. “They need to have had ensures on their satties for LAPC. Like in 12 months’s previous, a satty would get 70 seats.”

Salsberg pointed to the WPT Venetian occasion at present working in Las Vegas, a four-hour drive from LA, as one of many explanation why the LAPC Primary Occasion had such low turnout.

“Plus, California withholds 7% tax, so to get non-residents is a matter. Plus, there’s additionally an EPT Paris, a Wynn collection and a giant WSOP in Cherokee this week,” Salsberg argued.

The Los Angeles professionals appear to agree that the timing for the LAPC Primary Occasion and the shortage of a assured prize pool had been the primary contributing components for low turnout. However this was lengthy thought-about one of many must-play tournaments on this planet every year. Few different occasions outdoors the WSOP have the longstanding custom and status of the LAPC Primary Occasion. It seems, as Kwan mentioned, that luster has been misplaced, not less than for now.

Los Angeles Poker Traditional the Previous Decade

*Denotes a WPT 12 months.