Pardon the groaner title, but hear me out.

Men “The Master” Nguyen is on a roll of sorts. In the event mentioned below, Men took first place and the $65,700 top prize. He cashed in Event #2 of the Legends of Poker series on July 31st, then took down Event #13 on August 10th. Keep in mind that the year is but a little more than half over, and he already has $767,949 in 2008 tournament winnings thus far. A few other accomplishments earlier this year include:

• Two cashes at the Gold Strike World Poker Open in Tunica, including a prelim event win
• Three WPT cashes, including a final table that resulted in a 3rd place cash for $241,193
• Six cashes at the L.A. Poker Classic, including three victories in prelim events
• Five WSOP cashes

He is seriously dominating local L.A. poker in 2008 and doing well in general, and he still has time to add more accomplishments to the list. And consider this: His brother and wife are becoming forces to be reckoned with on the tournament circuit. Ut Nguyen won an L.A. Poker Classic prelim earlier this year, along with other cashes. Van Nguyen has had even more success, as she became the first woman to win a WPT mixed event at the WPT Celebrity Invitational in March. She took $125,500 for that victory, then went on to final table the WPT Ladies Championship the next month. And her WSOP included four cashes, netting more than her husband overall and finishing much better than him in the main event. In total, she has made $226,083 in 2008 so far.

I have a feeling this is going to be a sick year for Men and his family of players. The Nguyens are players to watch…is all I’m sayin’.

Phil Ivey - Courtesy of the World Poker Tour

In the most exciting World Poker Tour final table in recent memory, Phil Ivey used everything in his power to win the 2008 L.A. Poker Classic.

Phil Hellmuth left in sixth place with only a minor indication of tilt, and it looked like the two relative newcomers - Scott Montgomery and Charles Moore - looked like they might be able to squash the pros. But Montgomery took a dive to get out in fifth place, then Nam Le in fourth, and Moore in third. Heads-up play only lasted two hands between Quinn Do and the overwhelming chip leader Phil Ivey.

Ivey won with a full house over Do. While it looked at the beginning of the final table that Ivey may lose it when he lost several big pots in the first round, he calmed down and used as much patience as he had to pick his spots more carefully throughout the remainder of the action. At his eight appearance at a WPT final table, he finally won and pocketed nearly $1.6 million to boot.

For all of the action as it happened, check out the WPT Live Updates summary.

Congrats to Phil!

Seriously, look at this line-up:

Seat 1 Quinn Do - 1,450,000
Seat 2 Nam Le - 1,180,000
Seat 3 Phil Hellmuth - 2,380,000
Seat 4 Phil Ivey - 4,100,000
Seat 5 Charles Moore - 1,510,000
Seat 6 Scott Montgomery - 2,680,000

Could the WPT have asked for a better final table?

Whether you love or hate Phil Hellmuth, he’s going to make for great poker and interesting television. Phil Ivey has been at multiple WPT final tables but never been able to take a title. Quinn Do and Nam Le are friends and both quite capable of pulling this off. The wild cards are Charles Moore and Scott Montgomery, but can they really compete under the lights and cameras against such experienced pros?

Enough with the questions. Check out WPT Live Updates for all of the action when it begins today at 5pm.

UPDATE: Phil Hellmuth was just eliminated in sixth place. Ouch. The upside is that he crossed the $10 million tournament earnings mark with this finish.

The final 18 players are set to begin play at 12:30 today to compete for the six seats at the WPT final table. Oh, and a little $1.6 mil is up for grabs, too.

Today’s action is going to be exciting. Seriously. Phil Ivey is the chip leader right now, though Blair Hinkle (who?) is a close second. Phil Hellmuth is third in chips, with Nam Le not far behind. On the lower end of the chip counts are Jennifer Tilly, Theo Tran, Quinn Do, and my personal fav David Singer. Any of these players have the capability of chipping up or doubling up quickly to get back into contention.

Note to the poker gods: Please, please make this a great final table! One unrecognizable guy is acceptable, but please give us some seasoned and well-deserving pros! *End of plea.*

Here are the official chip counts and seating assignments, courtesy of WPT Live Updates:

TABLE 1
1. Nam Le - 1,254,000
2. Theo Tran - 410,000
3. Mike “SirWatts” Watson - 987,000
4. Charles Moore - 921,000
5. Quinn Do - 285,000
6. Wei Kai Chang - 751,000
7. Jennifer Tilly - 417,000
8. Brian Taylor - 228,000
9. Yury Parad - 214,000

TABLE 2
1. Phil Ivey - 1,543,000
2. Mike Carson - 1,049,000
3. Pete de Best - 291,000
4. Matt Brady - 497,000
5. Jeff Schwimmer - 413,000
6. David Singer - 285,000
7. Scott Montgomery - 386,000
8. Phil Hellmuth - 1,399,000
9. Blair Hinkle - 1,541,000

UPDATE: Singer was eliminated in 18th place. Boo!

UPDATE: Tilly finished in 12th place for $61,610, courtesy of Phil Hellmuth. (Sorry, Ed!)

As the players on Day 3 of the L.A. Poker Classic approach the money bubble, there are still some very well-known players atop the leader board - Phil Ivey and David Singer. Jennifer Tilly doubled up through Humberto Brenes and is doing well. Alan Goehring, former LAPC champion, is hanging on to make a run at another title.

Sadly, however, Antonio Esfandiari seemed to be on a bad run this evening, then took a hit from Kyle Burnside, and just got eliminated. He’s had a great week with the announcement of his partnership with WPT, but a shot at a second WPT LAPC title would have been icing on the cake. It wasn’t meant to be, but there’s the NBC Heads-Up in a few days, along with the WPT Invitational next weekend. Momentum could take him far if he lets it.

Click below for some semi-gossip-y notes:

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The $10k buy-in World Poker Tour main event of the L.A. Poker Classic got underway today at Commerce Casino. The final number of entrants was 665 - less than last year but impressive nonetheless. First prize will be over $1.6 million.

Walking around the tournament tables at the beginning of the day, it was obvious that it was a stacked field with pros everywhere - Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein, Freddy Deeb, Phil Hellmuth, Huck Seed, Erik Seidel, David Benyamine, Tom Schneider, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan, Gavin Griffin, Bill Edler, John Juanda… etc. Also in the field were the WPT’s own Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten, both of whom are obviously now (WPT change of contract terms?) allowed to play. And the celebrity quotient was filled by Montel Williams and Rick Salomon, if the latter is considered a celeb by anyone other than the tabloids.

Side note: Daniel Negreanu was sporting an Obama ‘08 shirt. That Barack guy is all the rage these days, eh?

Official live updates reveal that David Singer led the pack at the end of Day 1.

PokerListings and PokerPages are also in the media hizzouse (excuse the lame attempt at hipness - it’s late) providing updates as allowed.

The L.A. Poker Classic begins its month of preliminary tournaments tomorrow (January 24) at Commerce Casino. In fact, it is actualy in Commerce, California, but L.A. - City of Dreams, Hollywood, City of Angels, LaLa Land - sounds so much more appealing.

Prelim events range from $300 buy-ins to the $10k main event, and there are tournaments in limit & no-limit hold’em, stud, Omaha, six-handed and tag team hold’em, and shootouts, so there’s something for every donkey sucker player.

It all wraps up with the WPT $10k championship event that begins on February 23 with the final table on February 28. And the star-studded Celebrity Invitational runs from March 1 - 3.

Click here for a complete schedule.

Since Dan everybody calls me Cali Jen, I will be there when I can to get the inside scoop on who’s in the house, who’s winning and losing, any drama that ensues (did someone mention Brandi?), and which players and celebrities I have crushes on respect and admire.

While playing in a tournament at the LAPC, a woman sat down on my right in seat two along with a new dealer in the box. Within minutes she began hitting every flop with any two cards, even as low at 2-4o. I finally said to her, “Wow, you are running hot.”

The man in seat one said, “I think she brought her own dealer” along with seat four nodding in agreement. I immediately looked at the dealer who was making steady eye contact with her. Looking down she embarked on a frantic text message craze then began folding every hand. I was unwilling to believe cheaters would exist in a casino such as The Commerce but there was a vibe going on at that moment that was very uncomfortable. Not to mention the dealer making determined eye contact with her and no one else at the table. Eventually, I brushed it off. But you can’t help but wonder what some people are capable of.

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(LOS ANGELES)–First off, only compliments to the Commerce Casino for the way they run a poker game. The tournament structure is excellent and the dealers are outstanding. Even though the Commerce lacks the luxuries and energy of the Bellagio, their staff is personable and professional. It’s almost like a large professional home game. Everyone seems to know everyone there.

I had fun catching up with Amir Vahedi, who busted out early in the limit event. Chatted with Cyndy Violette (correction: she does not have black streaks). Caught up with fellow mom Karina Jett (she says “hello,” Dan). And the Asian guy with black hair that hit his three outs, knocking me out of the satellite was MINH NGUYEN not Men “the master” Nguyen. It is easy to confuse the two since Men Nguyen translates into John Smith. Did I mention Minh’s guilt? Before finishing the satellite he came over to me with a piece of cake. And by the way…no, I am not a whining player. I take it like a man professional. As for the bust in the limit event…I played with CAMPBELL DAVIS from Dallas.

It looks like I won’t be winning a seat into the WPT main event. My stack was crippled after my A7 was crushed by Mary Jones’ A3. (She won the 2006 WSOP Ladies event.) But our table broke and I quickly grew my 400 into 3200 in three hands. Thanks to a new table where I was no longer receiving 72 (hence the beautiful but dangerously stupid A7 play).

I picked up AK of hearts under the gun and made a standard 3x raise. It folded to the big blind who decided to raise me all in with her AQ offsuit. I flopped a king, she turned and rivered queens. Goodbye Commerce. I busted from the LA Poker Classic Ladies tourney at 10 pm and was back in Houston by 11 am this morning. Whew!

Just got word from Pokerati’s Houston correspondent Michele (aka “Fresh Princess,” aka “Michelf”) that she’s out of the $1,000 limit event at Commerce. There were 200 entries (a couple dozen more than last year) and she finished 50somethingth. (27 got paid.) Tomorrow she’ll try again, in the $1,000 Ladies NLH event.

Click here to follow. Can’t seem to find any live coverage …

Oh, she also reports that she figured out who that short Asian pro with the black hair was … some guy named Men the Master.

Awesome. Clearly Pokerati material!

LOS ANGELES–I stepped into the Commerce Casino last night for the first time, and I don’t think I have ever seen so many poker tables in one place (not counting The Rio Convention Center). It looked as though every seat were taken … and to top it off, my new friend Selma said the games were “very loose.”

While David Williams, JC Tran, and Steve Wong will not arrive until the main event later this month, Cyndy Violette and Freddie Deeb were both there — playing back to back at cash tables. (Cyndy was looking very sexy with her new black streaks.) And Young Phan was upstairs playing satellites. “I will be playing everyday,” he said. “Everyday!”

Some pro busted me out of a satellite, but I don’t know who he was. Asian guy, short, black hair, with a WPT final table jacket. I know I have seen him somewhere before.

It’s different from the normal Vegas routine of high noon here, as tournaments start at 3:30 pm. Maybe they think this creates an edge for The West Coast defeating The East Coast, not to mention us wayward Texans stuck in the middle with our Third Coast.