At the final table of the $1.200 LAPC Commerce Classic at The Commerce Casino & Hotel in Los Angeles, a strange hand occurred. A player threw away a hand despite a chop and gave away valuable chips.
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It was the very first hand at the final table that caused a stir. When the 
fell on the board on the turn, there were nearly 10 big blinds in the pot with 2,2 million chips.
Duey Duong, who held 
, bet 500.000 chips and his opponent, Erick Ordonez, who held 
, called.
On the river, the fifth card of the same suit fell with 
– a flush that neither player could improve, meaning both held the same strength hand.
On the river, both checked and Ordonez showed his three of a kind queens and his opponent Duong simply threw his hand away. In doing so, he gave up half of the pot, which should have been chopped.
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Ordonez collected the entire 3,2 million chips.
With $1,3 million in live earnings, Duong cannot be described as inexperienced. For him, it ended in 6th place – $52.050 was awarded for the placement.
In the end, the tournament with a $1.000.000 guarantee and 1.444 entries was won by Fausto Valdez, who left the tournament as the winner with $252.840.
Result:
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fausto Valdez | $252,840 |
| 2 | Erick Ordonez | $177,270 |
| 3 | Phuoc Hong Nguyen | $115,000 |
| 4 | Thang Tran | $85,210 |
| 5 | Lihao Shen | $64,380 |
| 6 | Duey Duong | $52,050 |
| 7 | Jared Griener | $42,990 |
| 8 | Kevin Khuong | $34,070 |
| 9 | Kurt Esbenson | $25,290 |
Interesting spot here. Huge ft.
Experienced player mucks his hand not realizing it’s a chop. No one says anything before it hits the muck, then players try to chime in & I say it’s out of line for anyone to say anything.@kwansfull disagrees with me, what say you? @SavagePoker pic.twitter.com/SAqv6gS6I7Read more Radio ViraL – ‘YoH ViraL’ goes viral with his own poker podcast!
— Jared Griener (@jaredgriener) February 18, 2026
