Anthony Zinno has won the $10,000 single entry World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic after beating Mike Leah in heads-up action to win back-to-back WPT Main Event titles.

The excitement of the inaugural American Poker Awards(APA) still clings to the air. The stars of 2014 have been honored; fresh in our memories. The poker journey keeps on rolling. Anthony Zinno has just shoehorned his way onto the 2015 Performance of the Year short list with 12-months still remaining.

The 33-year old, who claims that his hobby is ‘making WPT final tables,’ has walked away with the WPT LA Poker Classic Main Event title less than a month after doing likewise at the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic in Niagara.

In victory, he becomes the third player to win back-to-back WPT Main Event titles, he cashed for a record-tying seventh WPT cash in a single season, joined legends Carlos Mortensen and Gus Hansen as a three-time WPT Main Event champion, and is strangling the living hell out of the Season XIII WPT Player of the Year race.

The $10,000 single-entry main event is one of the toughest, pro heavy, events of the year. 538 players took their shot and the final table was laced with stardust. With over $10m in live tournament cashes between them, Mike Leah and Chris Klodnicki were the pick of the bunch.

Zinno would enter the fray with the second lowest chip stack. However, the confidence of being a two time WPT champion meant 37bb would go a long way – well that and a ton of double ups.

The first player to hit the rail was Peter Tran. The experienced Mike Leah was his vanquisher after Tran got all his money in on a board of [8c] [7c] [6c] [Th], holding [Kd] [7d], and Leah was sat holding [9h] [2h] for the straight.