World Poker Tour Returns to Commerce Casino for 2027 L.A. Poker Classic
The $10,000 freezeout championship will run Feb. 26 through March 3 as the tour restores its post-pandemic LAPC partnership.
The World Poker Tour will bring its branding back to Commerce Casino in Los Angeles for the 2027 L.A. Poker Classic, restoring a partnership that ended after the COVID-19 pandemic. The festival runs Jan. 15 through March 7, 2027, and its $10,000 WPT LAPC Championship is set for Feb. 26 through March 3.
The championship will be a freezeout. Commerce plans to award hundreds of seats through giveaways, promotions and satellite tournaments. The complete Season 25 schedule and further qualification details had not yet been released when the announcement was reported.
The return comes after a sharp contraction in the event’s recent field size. Alex Massman won the 2026 L.A. Poker Classic for $158,030 after a 50-entry tournament. PokerNews noted that first prizes routinely topped $1 million during the WPT-supported years, while no winner since the tour last hosted the event had received more than $402,000.
The last WPT LA Poker Classic champion was Balakrishna Patur, who earned $1.015 million in May 2021 by defeating Matas Cimbolas heads-up. That event had begun in 2020, played down to six players in Los Angeles that March, and was meant to finish at the Luxor in Las Vegas the following month. Casino closures during the pandemic postponed the final table for about a year; the tournament ultimately drew 490 entries.
The LAPC was part of the WPT’s inaugural 2003 season and appeared on its schedule through the tour’s first 18 years. Gus Hansen won the first edition, while later champions included Antonio Esfandiari, Michael Mizrachi, Phil Ivey, Chris Moorman, Anthony Zinno and David Baker. Baker won the 2019 WPT LA Poker Classic for $1.015 million.
The tournament’s earlier WPT history included much larger fields and prize pools. The first event drew 136 players for a $1.36 million prize pool, while the Season V edition attracted 791 entries and generated a reported $7.594 million, the largest prize pool reported in the source. Moorman’s 2014 victory paid $1.045 million, and Zinno earned $1.016 million in 2015.
WPT CEO Adam Pliska called the LAPC an important part of the tour’s history and said the return would build on the legacy created with Commerce.
