The final table for the first-ever WPT500 Los Angeles event was set on Tuesday night at The Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens, California. Just nine players remain from the enormous field of 3,266 entries, and those nine will return on Wednesday, May 31, for a shot at glory and a first-place prize of $224,500.
Leading the final nine was Peter Hengsakul with a stack of 8.675 million.
Hengsakul’s live tournament résumé includes more than $1.2 million in live tournament earnings. A victory at WPT500 Los Angeles would be the second-largest score of his live poker career behind a second-place finish in a 2013 World Series of Poker event. Hengsakul has reached the final table of WPTDeepStacks San Diego twice, finishing sixth in 2015 for $15,314 and seventh in 2014 for $16,394.
Hengsakul was trailed closely by Richard Tae Kim with 8.35 million.
WPT500 Los Angeles Final Table
Seat 1: Deepinder Singh – 4,175,000
Seat 2: Peter Hengsakul – 8,675,000
Seat 3: Greg Roberts – 3,050,000
Seat 4: Owen Crowe – 1,975,000
Seat 5: Alex Fayneshteyn – 3,275,000
Seat 6: Mike Eskandari – 7,150,000
Seat 7: Ilya Shpiner – 3,125,000
Seat 8: Dong Le – 7,500,000
Seat 9: Richard Tae Kim – 8,350,000
At one point on Day 2, Hengsakul was over 10 million in chips. This came after he busted Paul Saso in 14th place with the 
to Saso’s 
. Hengsakul spiked a ten on the flop and held from there to win that pot.
Shortly after,Tae Kim doubled through Hengsakul to knock the chip leader back to 8.65 million. It was a battle of two big hands, but Tae Kim had the best of it with the 
to Hengsakul’s 
. The aces held, and te climb up the leaderboard for Tae Kim began.
Tae Kim later busted Roy Colman in 10th place to end the day’s play and set the final table. Tae Kim had the 
against the 
of Colman and hit a queen on the turn to score the knockout and move to 8.35 million in chips.
Hengsakul and Tae Kim were joined at the final table by seven others, including stout Southern California grinder Mike Eskandari and well-known professional Owen Crowe.
Prior to this event, Eskandari boasted $1.785 million in live tournament earnings. A win at WPT500 Los Angeles would prove the third-largest score of his live tournament career. Crowe had a record with $2.6 million in live tournament earnings entering this event and could score the fourth-largest payday of his live career should he go on to victory. Eskandari finished Day 2 in better position than Crowe, sitting in fourth place with 7.15 million in chips. Crowe rounded out the final table by bringing up the rear on the shortest stack of 1.975 million.
Each of the nine remaining competitors have locked up $21,000 in prize money, with a big $224,500 up top for the winner. That’s quite the earnings for an event with a buy-in of just $565.
Day 3 of the first-ever WPT500 Los Angeles will play from nine to a winner, and it all starts on Wednesday at 3 p.m. PT. A stream of the final table with hole cards up will be available starting at 3:30 p.m., and it will be Donnie Peters calling the action alongside WPT Champions Club member Daniel Strelitz.
As always, be sure to stay tuned to WPT.com for continued coverage of the first-ever WPT500 Los Angeles.