The Commerce casino in Los Angeles crowned the California State Poker Champion yesterday. Boris Akopov managed to beat a field of 263 players to take down first place. He receives $49,475 for his win. The buy-in was $1,100.
The Commerce is home to the LA Poker Classic, one of the more prestigious stops on the WPT. The casino has been reopened for a while now, but still sports the plexiglass dividers and encourages mask-wearing. Akopov posed for his winner's photo in a sea of clear plastic uprights.
The CSPC saw players gather for nine events over ten days. All events were single entry no limit hold 'em events.
Akopov is a small-time grinder with some decent previous results. However, yesterday's win marks a major step up for him. He has a smattering of live tournament cashes going back to 2015.
His previous best result was taking first place in an Aria resort daily $110. His biggest cash prior to yesterday was $12,006 for a 6th place finish at the $400 2018 Winter Classic in Scottsdale. Today's score is a little under four times that.
Overall, his near $50k win bumped his lifetime live tourney cashes up to $125,357.
The Commerce announced the win on Twitter. "Congratulations Boris A.," said the tweet. "He outlasted a field of 263 players to win this years Cal State Poker Championship Main Event and took home just under $50,000."
Day two, final table
The Commerce's Twitter team also tweeted about the day one results. "Yesterday’s #CSPC Main Event had 263 players with a $263,000 prize pool," they wrote. "32 players return today at 1 PM to crown the winner of the #CSPC21 Main Event."
The tweet was accompanied by a photo of The Commerce's tournament chips and their glaring, clashing color scheme.
Akopov beat a largely amateur final table to take down the event. His toughest competition came in the form of two other moderately successful tourney pros.
The first of these pros was Danny Geyser. Geyser has $363k in live winnings. Much of these monies come from two titles from World Poker Tour H.O.R.S.E. side events in L.A. back in 2016 and 2020. Geyser ended up leaving the stage in 7th for $9,270.
The second challenge was Chris Convery, a South African pro and the only non-American at the final table. Convery has a long list of final table appearances back in his home nation. These include 3rd in the ZAR10,000 PLO event at the WSOP International Circuit in Vanderbijlpark. He also has a couple of top 1k finished at the WSOP main event in 2006 and 2017. Convery took 6th, leaving a pretty soft field at the mercy of Akopov.
In the end, Akopov beat Daniel Song for the title, in a straightforward heads-up duel. Song received $39,605 for second place.
California State Poker Championship main event final table results
| Position | Name | Prize |
| 1st | Boris Akopov | $49,475 |
| 2nd | Daniel Song | $39,605 |
| 3rd | Sung Yun | $35,560 |
| 4th | David Curtis | $20,920 |
| 5th | Robert Gill | $15,730 |
| 6th | Christopher Convery | $11,990 |
| 7th | Daniel Geyser | $9,270 |
| 8th | Phillip Gomes | $7,270 |
Featured image source: Twitter
