WPT Brings L.A. Poker Classic Back Under Its Banner for 2027

The Los Angeles Poker Classic is going back to the World Poker Tour. The WPT announced in a press release that the $10,000 LAPC main event at The Commerce Casino & Hotel will once again carry the tour’s branding in 2027, according to Card Player. The return ends a six-year run in which the LAPC operated as an independent, unaffiliated $10,000 tournament.

The timing follows a rough 2026. This year’s LAPC main event drew only 50 entries, a figure Card Player’s Mo Nuwwarah described in a column as alarming for one of poker’s most historic tournaments. The field came despite a format that allowed players up to three bullets: one on each starting day and one more on Day 2.

LAPC Numbers Since the 2020 Split

The decline is easiest to see in the prize pools. In 2020, the last year the event ran as a WPT stop, the LAPC main event generated a $4,727,550 prize pool, Card Player reports. Over the following five years, excluding the COVID-affected 2021 edition, the event paid out $5,908,100 combined. That five-year total is only about 25% larger than the single 2020 pool.

Attendance tells the same story. The LAPC averaged 513 entries per year across its last five years with the WPT. In the five years since, it drew 634 entries in total.

Head-to-head scheduling did not help. In 2026, the WPT ran a competing event at the Venetian in Las Vegas that went up directly against the LAPC, according to Card Player, which judged that the overlap cost the Commerce event more than it cost the tour.

Freezeout Format and Commerce Satellites

The WPT’s announcement specifically describes the 2027 main event as a freezeout. Card Player reads that as a return to the LAPC’s traditional one-entry structure and a break from this year’s multi-entry setup. The rest of the LAPC festival schedule gives traveling players other events to play after busting.

The Commerce is also putting money into the relaunch. According to the press release quoted by Card Player, the casino plans promotions, giveaways and satellite tournaments to mark the WPT’s return, with hundreds of seats into the $10,000 main event to be awarded through those channels.

The deal adds a US date to a tour schedule that has leaned more on international stops, including events in Cambodia and Australia. By the end of this year, the WPT will have hosted eight US events with buy-ins of $3,500 or more, the tier it once labeled main tour events, according to Card Player. The outlet noted that the January Lucky Hearts Poker Open at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood in Florida does not appear on the current WPT schedule. The 2020 LAPC prize pool of $4,727,550 is the benchmark the reunited event now faces.