Meet the WPT L.A. Poker Classic Final Table

Seat 1.  Mike Sexton  –  1,165,000  (39 bb)

WPT Commentator Mike Sexton was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2009, as much as an ambassador to the game as for his skill as a player. In 1999, Sexton created the Tournament of Champions of Poker, a format that has been replicated by both the WPT and the WSOP, and in 2006, Sexton won the WSOP Tournament of Champions (defeating Daniel Negreanu in a lengthy heads-up battle) to win $1 million. Sexton is known throughout the poker world for his fantastic stories from different eras of the game. Many of these stories are compiled in his new book, “Life’s a Gamble.”

As someone who really appreciates the history of poker, Sexton knows what it means to make the WPT L.A. Poker Classic final table. “It’s pretty neat, because I do think this is one of the most prestigious poker tournaments, not just on the World Poker Tour, but in the world — period. I mean you look at the list of winners for this event, and it’s big time. Just having a shot to get your name on that list is impressive, and obviously for me, to win two events in one season, I mean it’s only been done a few times, so that would be pretty cool,” said Sexton.

Sexton attended Ohio State University on an athletic scholarship in gymnastics. Before he became a professional poker player, Sexton was a paratrooper in the U.S. Army and also taught ballroom dancing. Sexton didn’t record his first WPT cash until 2010 because his original WPT contract banned him from playing in WPT events so he could fulfill his role as WPT Commentator. For Sexton’s previous three WPT Final Tables, he was replaced in the Commentating Booth by Phil Hellmuth (for the 2013 WPT Venice Poker Festival) and Tony Dunst (for the 2011 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star and 2016 partypoker.net WPT Montreal). Dunst will fill in for him next to Vince Van Patten for this event as well.

Sexton won the partypoker.net WPT Montreal earlier this season, but he thinks it might be a tall order to win his second WPT title here at Commerce Casino. “Overcoming Daniel [Strelitz]’s chip lead is going to be hard for anyone to do. They are so tough, I think this Daniel Strelitz, I played with him yesterday, I was so wowed by how good he was. He just dominated the table, and he did the same thing today. But these guys are all good. They’re tough and superstars, you’ve got to beat the best to win this title,” said Sexton, who comes into the final table fifth in chips with 1,165,000.

Seat 2.  Jesse Martin  –  2,540,000  (85 bb)

Jesse Martin enters the final table of the WPT L.A. Poker Classic third in chips with a stack of 2,540,000. He challenged for the chip lead late on Day 4, and has been able to cruise along with one of the largest stacks in the tournament since that time. Martin has seven cashes in WPT events, but all of them were booked between Season IV and Season XI. His most recent WPT cash was his best, a ninth-place finish at the WPT Legends of Poker that was worth $40,400.

“When I was younger I played a lot more no-limit hold’em tournaments. I don’t travel for them anymore. I will play them in town, or I will play them at the World Series, but I just don’t travel for them anymore. I used to play between five and ten a year, but now I might play one a year, so I thought maybe I would never make a WPT final. It’s not necessarily my biggest poker goal, but it’s a cool thing to check off the list of things I’ve done in poker,” said Martin.

The Northboro, Massachusetts native now lives in Southern California and has a prolific poker tournament career with 74 cashes and nearly $2.4 million in career earnings. Martin’s biggest score was worth $594,570 when he took third place in the $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship at the 2014 World Series of Poker.

When asked about his experience here at Commerce Casino, Martin thought the tournament schedule had a lot to do with his success this week. “It’s gone really well, I’ve just felt a lot of energy and focus throughout most of the tournament. I played cash games all month, and I just came in pretty fresh. I’ve been taking breaks, and I think the way it’s structured has really helped me. You only play eight or nine hours, which is a lot different than most tournaments, so I get to go home and sleep in my own bed, and hang out with my wife and kid. So it’s been like a nice refresh every morning,” said Martin.

Seat 3.  Jared Griener  –  1,895,000  (63 bb)

Jared Griener is a 30-year-old professional poker player from Provo, Utah, but he now lives down here in Southern California in Huntington Beach. He takes 1,895,000 into the WPT L.A. Poker Classic final table, good for fourth in chips. When he’s not playing poker, Griener works in sales at a solar company, and he also enjoys spending time with his wife. He considers making this final table the greatest accomplishment in his poker career. Griener has 68 cashes to his credit, with nearly $500,000 in career earnings. He is already guaranteed to earn the biggest cash of his career tomorrow, as his previous high was $84,667 for a runner-up finish in a Legends of Poker preliminary event back in 2014.

Greiner had a little bit of a roller-coaster ride during the play-down stretch to the final table. “I started with 600,000 and I lost a couple hands to get down to 400,000. Then I got balanced, I got moved to the other table, which I think is the tougher table, so I wasn’t too happy about it. But then I flopped two pair and doubled up, I had pocket queens and then [Visnja Luetic] just went all in on the flop and I doubled up again, so just a couple of lucky hands,” said Griener.

About halfway thru Day 5, Griener was asked for his thoughts on how the rest of the day would proceed. “Hopefully it goes smoothly. I feel like I’m in a really good spot, I’m probably second in chips right now. The goal is just to keep firing off and make the final table.”

Seat 4.  Daniel Strelitz  –  6,485,000  (216 bb)

Daniel Strelitz started Day 5 as chipleader, and he held onto the top of the leaderboard all day. Now he’s heading to the WPT Final Table with an even larger lead — his 6,485,000 is more than 2.2 times anyone else at the table. Strelitz has often been the table captain of any table he has played at during the event, pushing the action with almost constant aggression that has won him many pots uncontested.

“I was opening a lot, and they were letting me kind of just win the blinds over and over,” said Stelitz at the conclusion of play on Day 4, and that’s pretty much what he did during the play-down stretch as well.

With such a massive chip stack, Strelitz has to be considered the favorite, though he’s guaranteed to earn the biggest cash of his WPT career regardless of his finish. His previous best finish on the World Poker Tour was a 19th-place finish at WPT Rolling Thunder last season to earn $12,303, although he actually took home more money ($28,389) for a 51st-place finish in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic earlier this season.

The Torrance, California native currently lives in the nearby city of Orange, and he has $1,663,050 in live tournament earnings in his career. His largest cash to date is the $338,774 he took home for a runner-up finish in a $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event at the 2016 World Series of Poker. This talented poker professional also has hundreds of online tournament results to his credit.

“It’s hard to control your emotions in poker, it’s really intense. So I was starting to feel a little bit shaky, but I kept cool and tried to not be emotional,” said Strelitz when asked if he was nervous the very few times he’s experienced holding a short stack in this tournament, but it looks like he has definitely been able to hold those emotions in check during an impressive run to the final table.

Seat 5.  Simeon Naydenov  –  2,860,000  (95 bb)

Simeon Naydenov is from Sofia, Bulgaria, and the WSOP bracelet winner takes 2,860,000 chips into this televised WPT Final Table. He will be looking to score the largest cash of his career tomorrow, and he can do so if he takes third place or better. His largest cash to date came when he won $326,440 for topping the field in a no-limit hold’em shootout event at the 2013 World Series of Poker.

When asked about the pressure of playing for a million-dollar first prize, Naydenov said, “This is the highest prize tournament I’ve played in right now, so I’m a bit stressed. I’m trying to breathe deeper and deeper so I calm down my emotions and just focus on the game. That’s the main thing going through my head right now.” The $1,001,110 up top would make a nice addition to his career earnings of $1,755,386.

Naydenov enters the final table second in chips, saying, “I am actually calm, I’ve been waiting for this moment to play at a final table.” When asked about his final table competition, Naydenov said, “They’re all professionals. I think Mike Sexton is the most experienced guy at the table. They’re all good players, so I need to be careful with them.”

Naydenov has found success before here at Commerce Casino. “I came here once actually, and I won the side event, the Playboy tournament. It’s a great place to play. The room is so huge, there’s always a great game running. It’s a pretty nice place, everything is alright here.” Naydenov won that $1,650 buy-in Playboy no-limit hold’em event at the 2016 L.A. Poker Classic, earning $168,405.

Seat 6.  Richard Tuhrim  –  680,000  (23 bb)

With 680,000 in chips, Richard Tuhrim will be the short stack when the WPT Final Table begins. “I’m definitely happy to be at the final table. Right now I’m not in a very good mood because I just lost a big pot at the end of the night for a ton of chips. Overall I’m certainly happy to be here, and I’m going to make the most of it,” said Tuhrim.

He expects to be in action early tomorrow, but he’s not too worried about his predicament just yet. “I’m down pretty short, but I’m still in it. I have 23 big blinds, so it’s enough. Obviously I’m going to need to catch some cards, but it’s enough to work with,” said Tuhrim. The New York City resident is the youngest player at the final table at 23 years old.

The professional poker player is also a top 150 chess player in the United States, so he is a master of many games. Tuhrim has nine cashes in his young poker career for a total of $142,894 in career live tournament earnings. His best cash was $59,233 for a fifth-place finish in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em WSOP.com Online event during the 2016 World Series of Poker.

It also sounds like Tuhrim has had a very busy stretch here at Commerce Casino, playing in both tournaments and cash games. “I like the cash games. I like that there’s big games going in no-limit and PLO, so I think that’s the thing I like the most about Commerce. I got here way before the tournament and put in a bunch of sessions in cash. I will probably put in more after the tournament, so I would say that’s the biggest benefit of being at Commerce,” said Tuhrim.