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World Poker Tour Announce LAPC Partnership for 2027

Written by: Paul Seaton 6 min read
The World Poker Tour have stepped in with a bid to save one of poker’s classic major events. The Los Angeles Poker Classic, also known as the LAPC, was once a celebrated event that made stars such as Phil Ivey, Chris Moorman and David ‘ODB’ Baker seven-figure winners of its prestigious Main Event. Earlier this year, the ailing brand featured just 50 buy-ins at $10,000 and awarded its winner, Alex Massman, a 16-buy-in win worth just $158,030.
LAPC FT

Relaunching a formerly golden poker brand, the World Poker Tour have announced that they are hosting the WPT LAPC Championship as part of their 25th Season in 2026 and 2027, as the LAPC faces the opportunity to return to its former glory or fade into obscurity. With the action taking place at The Commerce Casino & Hotel in February and March of next year, the LAPC faces a crucial few months.

A Glorious History

Los Angeles has always had a chequered history with the game of poker. While the City of Angels is the home of the Hollywood Hills and celebrities from the world of the silver screen, poker hasn’t always been huge. Las Vegas has corralled poker players in events and cash games for years, and while Live at The Bike and Hustler Casino Live both take place in L.A., Vegas has always been the place to be.

That might change again in the early months of 2027, as the World Poker Tour hope to revive one of the poker’s lost loves. Major events are ten-a-cent nowadays, but when the L.A. Poker classic came along in 1992, that wasn’t the case. A $10,000 freezeout, the event was in direct competition with the WSOP Main Event and about two other events a year for ‘best freezeout’ and the LAPC was never going to have the cache of the annual World Championship in Sin City.

That was until it became a World Poker Tour Main Event. The WPT transformed the LAPC from an event with around 100 entries to one with several hundred. At its height, the LAPC Main Event attracted over 700 runners and paid out top prizes that exceeded $2.5m. Then COVID happened. In the year after COVID struck, the WPT version of the LAPC was followed by a non-affiliated LAPC that had 69 entries compared to 490 the previous year.

LAPC Trophy
The infamous LAPC Trophy that was once so coveted.

Can the WPT Revive the LAPC?

“The LAPC holds an incredibly important place in the history of the World Poker Tour.” ~ WPT CEO Adam Pliska

The World Poker Tour saw what happened earlier this year and decided that they had to act. Back in February, the LAPC had just 50 entries and its winner, Alex Massman won the equivalent of fewer than 16 buy-ins at $158,030. Compared to the glory years of Phil Ivey scooping $1.59 million and the World Poker Tour and the brand was dying out. Another year of $10,000 entries with so few players making the money would not be acceptable, for the venue or players who might play.

So the announcement that players will be returning to The Commerce Casino & Hotel for the WPT LAPC Championship next year is a heartening one. The WPT LAPC festival will run from January 15 through March 7 in 2027 and the $10,000 buy-in re-named WPT LAPC Championship will take place from February 26 through March 3.

“The LAPC holds an incredibly important place in the history of the World Poker Tour,” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska about the announcement. “Our partnership with The Commerce Hotel & Casino helped create countless memorable moments over the years, and we are proud to return in Season 25 and build upon that remarkable legacy together.”

That remarkable legacy is one that the LAPC stand to extend or see end in Los Angeles next March, because the move is one that is all or nothing from the WPT. Reading between the lines, the series will either return a roaring success, or simply disappear, never to be seen again.

David ODB Baker
David ‘ODB’ Baker won the LAPC and over $1m in 2019.

From Gus Hansen to Alex Massman

The great and glorious past of the LAPC Main Event is one that the big names of the poker boom in the early 2000s remember with fondness. In the same year that Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Main Event and changed the face of poker forever, Gus Hansen topped 136 entries in the $10,000 LAPC and claimed the $532,490 top prize.

Other big winners added to their legend with victories in the LAPC. Phil Ivey won it five years after Hansen, taking home $1.59 million after besting 664 opponents in what was rapidly becoming one of the biggest three or four tournaments on the poker calendar. Antonio ‘the Magician’ Esfandiari, Michael ‘Grinder’ Mizrachi and Chris Moorman are just three of the other luminaries who took home over a million dollars for winning the LAPC during its heyday.

While the LAPC’s two earliest events featured only 45 and 41 entries in 1993 and 1996 respectively, the two-time world champion Johnny Chan’s victory over 106 rivals in 2000 catapulted the event into the headlines and in effect the hearts and minds of poker fans as well as players. Both Daniel Strelitz (2017) and David ‘ODB’ Baker (2019) won the event for over a million dollars in the years preceding its collapse.

After COVID struck in 2020, events from 2021 onward were non-affiliated and the series suffered. Only 69 players took on the LAPC Main Event one year after 490 had battled to glory. In February of this year, a disastrous total of just 50 players looked to have killed off one of poker’s best-loved events.

Perhaps the return of the LAPC to The Commerce Casino & Hotel in 2027 will act as a resuscitation of the rebranded tournament, now called the WPT LAPC Championship.  The WPT LAPC festival runs from January 15th until March 7th next year, and the $10,000-entry WPT LAPC Championship is the flagship event. One thing looks sure: if the paddles don’t work in the New Year, the LAPC may not survive.

Here are all the historic winners of the LAPC:

Los Angeles Poker Classic Through the Years
Year Buy-In Winner Top Prize Entries
1993 $5,000 John Esposito $101,500 45
1996 $5,000 Jamie Ligator $102,250 41
2000 $2,500 Johnny Chan $90,000* 107
2001 $5,000 Young Phan $186,850 101
2002 $7,000 Meng La $380,000 133
2003 $10,000 Gus Hansen $532,490 136
2004 $10,000 Antonio Esfandiari $1,399,135 382
2005 $10,000 Michael Mizrachi $1,859,909 538
2006 $10,000 Alan Goehring $2,391,550 692
2007 $10,000 Eric Hershler $2,429,970 791
2008 $10,000 Phil Ivey $1,596,100 665
2009 $10,000 Cornel Cimpan $1,686,760 696
2010 $10,000 Andras Koroknai $1,788,040 745
2011 $10,000 Gregory Brooks $1,654,120 681
2012 $10,000 Sean Jazayeri $1,370,240 549
2013 $10,000 Paul Klann $1,004,090 517
2014 $10,000 Chris Moorman $1,015,460 534
2017 $10,000 Daniel Strelitz $1,001,110 521
2018 $10,000 Dennis Blieden $1,000,000 493
2019 $10,000 David ‘ODB’ Baker $1,015,000 546
2020 $10,000 Balakrishna Patur $1,015,000 490
2021 $10,000 Michael Liang $175,300 69
2022 $10,000 Huy Lam $300,280 119
2023 $10,000 Alex Petrosian $401,650 181
2024 $10,000 Wesley Haymond $279,450 139
2025 $10,000 Michael Nia $308,270** 145
2026 $10,000 Alex Massman $158,030 50

* Estimated top prize

** Following heads-up deal

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Paul seaton

Paul seaton

Author

Paul Seaton has written about poker for over a decade, reporting live from events such as the World Series of Poker, the European Poker Tour and the World Poker Tour in his career to date. Having also been the Editor of BLUFF Europe magazine and Head of Media for partypoker, Paul has also written for PokerNews, 888poker and PokerStake, interviewing many of the world’s greatest poker players. These include Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, Phil Hellmuth and all four members of the Hendon Mob, for which he was nominated for a Global Poker Award for Best Written Content.  

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