The 2025 L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event concluded via a heads-up deal in the early hours of Thursday, Feb. 27. 71-year-old Michael Nia was crowned the champion, earning $308,270 and the trophy as the chip leader over Elvyn Bello (2nd – $300,000).
Nia is a Southern California native with $897,000 in career tournament earnings, including eight recorded titles to his name. This was his largest payday yet, blowing away his previous top score of $57,530 that came from a win in a $2,000 six-max event at this same series back in 2013.
This victory came with 720 Card Player Player of the Year points for Nia, enough to move him within reach of the top 100 in the 2025 POY race standings presented by Global Poker. This was his first qualified score of the year.
A total of 145 entries were made in this latest LAPC championship tournament, resulting in a prize pool of $1,348,500. The top 19 finishers made the money, with six-figure payouts for the final three.
Plenty of big names ran deep, including bracelet winners Tyler Cornell (16th), Jonathan Cohen (12th), and Jonathan Pastore (9th). Anthony Hu (8th – $42,140) ran pocket kings into the flopped straight of Nia early at the final table. Bello then won a preflop coin flip to eliminate Cecile Ticherfatine (7th – $47,200). Bello continued his surge with another race won against Gevork Kasabyan, who finished sixth for $54,010.
2007 World Poker Tour Celebrity Invitational winner Adam Weinraub was the next to fall, with his A-K unable to improve against the pocket nines of bracelet winner and recent Mid-States Poker Tour Bally’s Blackhawk champion Faraz Jaka. Weinraub was awarded $65,400 as the fifth-place finisher.
Frank Brannan’s final hand saw him three-bet shoved over Nia’s button raise with A
3 from the small blind. Bello reshoved from the big blind with A
A
and Nia got out of the way. The pocket aces held up and Brannan hit the rail in fourth place ($84,320).
Jaka started out as the short stack heading into three-handed play, but managed to battle his way into the lead at one point. He soon lost a big all-in with jacks up against the broadway straight of Bello to fall back into third chip position. His last showdown was a button shove with K4. Nia called from the small blind with 75 and the board came down A
9867 to give Nia a winning straight. Jake walked away with $138,900 for his efforts. He shot up the POY leaderboard and into 22nd place thanks to this deep run and his win in Colorado a month earlier.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Michael Nia | $308,270 | 720 |
| 2 | Elvyn Bello Santos | $300,000 | 600 |
| 3 | Faraz Jaka | $138,900 | 480 |
| 4 | Frank Brannan | $84,320 | 360 |
| 5 | Adam Weinraub | $65,400 | 300 |
| 6 | Gevork Kasabyan | $54,010 | 240 |
| 7 | Cecile Ticherfatine | $47,200 | 180 |
| 8 | Anthony Hu | $42,140 | 120 |
| 9 | Jonathan Pastore | $37,230 | 60 |
Photo credit: Commerce Casino X account and poker blog / Danny Maxwell.