Blake Bohn Tops WPT L.A. Poker Classic Day 1

A total of 523 players registered the WPT L.A. Poker Classic and the prize pool is over $5 million heading into tomorrow’s Day 2. Of those 523, 328 advanced to Day 2. The $10,000 freezeout brought out the best in poker to battle in one of WPT’s flagship events that will have more than $1 million awarded to first place when the final prize pool is calculated.

Leading the way is WPT final tablist and a familiar face on the tour Blake  Bohn. The Minnesotan gradually chipped up during Day 1 and bagged 202,400 chips to battle with on Day 2.

“I ran pretty good, won key pots, stayed patient, and stayed out of harm’s way. It was a super fun day,” Bohn said. “My big hands just held up I guess. I got one kind of key bluff through and my big hands just held up. It was just a simple day of poker. There were really no other goals than to just survive today. I’d have been happy with 60K, but then when you get some chips you can start putting some extra pressure on people so it worked out.”

Bohn owns four top-25 WPT finishes and his best result is fourth place in the Season XIII WPT Borgata Poker Open. What it would mean for Bohn to go the distance and win the title?

“It would honestly be a lifelong dream. I’ve been watching this tournament for 17 years now, so it’s nice to be part of it the last four or five. I’m excited and who knows what will happen.”

Bohn is far from the only player to have themselves a quality Day 1 at Commerce Casino. Rupesh Pattni (189,000), Brian Udo (155,200), and Rachel Dardon (179,600) all topped the 150,000-chip mark.

On the Champions Club member front, Paul Klann, Taylor Paur, Lee Markholt, and Matas Cimbolas all put together a six-figure stack. Markholt doubled up early on Day 1 versus Rainer Kempe and never looked back.

Kempe was one of many well-performing WPT players who exited the tournament area with nothing but a food voucher for their troubles on Day 1. Champions Club members David Paredes, James Romero, John Hennigan, James Calderaro, Chino Rheem, Brian Altman, Nick Schulman, Jared Jaffee, Tyler Patterson, Jesse Sylvia, and defending WPT LAPC champion Dennis Blieden all hit the rail during today’s action.

Phil Hellmuth registered to play the last two levels of the day and had his stack fall below 10,000 before recovering to bag 47,200.

Hublot WPT Player of the Year frontrunners Ping Liu and Jake Schwartz had their stacks reduced to zero today.

WPT Champions Cup finalists Vinicius Lima, Joseph Di Rosa Rojas, Shannon Shorr, Frank Stepuchin, and Ray Qartomy moved on in their pursuit of a second final table to play the week of March 11 at HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas.

Season XV WPT LAPC champion Daniel Strelitz bagged a tidy 100,000.

Day 2 starts at 12 p.m. and registration is open until the start of Level 11 (3:30 pm). Five 90-minute levels are on the schedule with the money bubble likely to hit on Day 3. Stay tuned to WPT.com for complete coverage of the Season XVII WPT L.A. Poker Classic.

Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com

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