Commerce Casino's 2011 L.A. Poker Classic to Feature $2 Million in Guarantees, Including $1 Million Opener

COMMERCE, Calif., Dec. 6, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Commerce Casino has unveiled another blockbuster lineup of tournaments for the 2011 LA Poker Classic, with $2 million in guarantees. With 53 events from January 19-March 3, the LA Poker Classic is chock full of unique and challenging events that brings the world's best poker players to Los Angeles for 43 days of action and high visibility at the world's largest poker casino.

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All eyes are on the players vying for victory in the $10,000 LA Poker Classic Main Event, and the World Poker Tour Celebrity Invitational. Anchored by two major World Poker Tour® (WPT) televised events, the LAPC features an estimated $20 million total prize pool. The opening $335-buy-in, four-day-start tourney alone boasts a $1 million guarantee to get things started.

Buy-ins range from $125 for a multi-start No Limit Hold'em Turbo event on Feb. 2 to $25,100 for the internationally renowned Commerce High Roller Tournament on Sunday, Feb. 27. Commerce continues to offer the largest payments in poker for the most modest buy-ins. Forty dollars can get you into selected single-table satellites, and then work your way up to a $10,000 seat in the Main Event. Winners of the nightly $225 Supersatellites earn a seat with their victory that provides a shot at the Main Event millions.

Any player winning a seat in one of the 7 p.m. nightly Supersatellites for the Main Event will ALSO get a seat in WPT Invitational!

A new event added to the lineup is a $545 buy-in No Limit Hold'em Senior Championship for players over the age of 50. The victor will earn a seat in the $10,000 Main Event.

This year's 8 Game Mix (Feb. 17) and Heads Up (Feb. 22) are more affordable than ever with a $5,100 buy-in. Winner of the Heads Up event gets a spot in the $10,000 Main Event (added by Commerce Casino). For the first time there are megasatellites that will let a player win his or her way into the 7 Game Mix and Heads Up championships. There will also be a Turbo Mega Satellite for the $2,100 buy-in Feb. 20 Ironman event.

Guaranteed events include a $300,000 four-day-start No Limit Hold'em featuring a $125-buy-in (Feb. 2) with $100,000 going to the winner, a $100,000 No Limit Hold'em  with rebuys $125 buy-in (Feb. 12), a $100,000 Knockout Bounty No Limit Hold'em with $335 buy-in (Feb. 13), a $100,000 No Limit Hold'em Shootout for $335 (Feb. 18), and $100,000 No Limit Hold'em with $335-buy-in (Feb. 21).

Four key events will feature $10,000 seats in the Main Event for their winners.

All of the action will be capped by the World Poker Tour events -- the $10,000 L.A. Poker Classic Championship that begins Feb. 25, and the hugely popular WPT Celebrity Invitational starting Feb. 19, which attracts poker-playing stars of TV and film. In 2010, Andras Koroknai of Hungary bested 745 others to walk away with $1,788,040, and the LAPC Championship. Amateur poker player, LeRon "Dream187" Washington--who earned his spot in the event by winning a tournament on Club WPT--captured the WPT Celebrity Invitational, earning a $100,000 payday. The WPT events will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net (FSN).

"You can't get much better than this," says Tournament Director Matt Savage. "We've carefully crafted the 2011 LAPC schedule to provide great payouts, plenty of variety, exciting challenges, and structures the players will love. The LAPC has become one of the two MUST-attend series in the U.S. for players, attracting an international field of poker all-stars, yet still being appealing and affordable to Southern Californians."

Starting time for each event vary, so please check with website for times. The full event schedule and overview for Commerce Casino's L.A. Poker Open can be found at www.CommerceCasino.com or by calling (323) 721-2100.

Editor's Note: 300 DPI Downloadable Photos available on the media section of www.CommerceCasino.com

SOURCE Commerce Casino