The youth revolution continues on the World Poker Tour
23-year old internet marketing entrepreneur Gregory Brooks crushed a final table featuring a former Online Player of the Year and two WPT champions. Brooks outlasted a field of 681 players winning $1,654,120 of the $6.5 million prize pool. Hosted at Commerce Casino in Commerce, CA, the LAPC is widely considered among the toughest fields at any WPT event. This year was no exception with poker superstars like Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Hellmuth, Michael Mizrachi, Faraz Jaka, Daniel Negreanu, Maria Ho, and Jason Mercier taking a seat on the felt.
Brooks follows in the footsteps of 22-year olds Randal Flowers (Festa al Lago) and Jeff Forrest (Foxwoods World Poker Finals), as young stars continue to make their mark on Season IX. At one of the fastest, most aggressive and highly contentious final tables in WPT history, Brooks and Vivek Rajkumar made quick work of their opponents and started their heads up battle on hand 62 of the night. Heads up play slowed considerably as former WPT Borgata Open winner Rajkumar, 24, tried to overcome Brooks' more than 2-to-1 chip lead. In the end Brooks, who hails from Wyckoff, NJ, came out on top when his 87 beat Rajkumar's J10 and the board fell 7322A.
"My strategy throughout the entire tournament was really to play aggressively in spite of whether or not my chips allowed me to," said Brooks. "But I was lucky enough to have a lot of chips and I was able to play a lot of hands. I was a little surprised. No one else seemed like they wanted to take the reins. So I decided that I would do so."
Even though Carlos Mortensen didn't capture his record fourth WPT title tonight, his third place finish only cements his legacy as the most successful player in World Poker Tour history. With his $640,680 pay day, he extends his lead in the lifetime WPT earnings list with $6,394,988. He is the first player to cross the $6 million mark. With 64 WPT events played and that much in earnings, Mortensen averages nearly $100,000 in earnings each tournament; an amazing number that is a testament to The Matador's unrivaled consistency.