Interestingly, Brooks had recently taken a break from poker and online play where he had made his name and money and decided last minute to enter the event while on a trip to Los Angeles with some friends.
He entered Thursday's final six with the highly respected Carlos Mortensen, winner of more than $10 million in live tournaments and the first player to win both the World Series of Poker Main Event and World Poker Tour Championship, in the lead.
Right behind Mortensen sat 2008 WPT Borgata Champ Vivek Rajkumar, who holds the record for winning the fastest final table in WPT history after taking the Borgata title in less than three hours and just 48 hands.
Additionally, there was 2009 CardPlayer Online Player of the Year Steve "gboro780" Gross, 2009 WSOP cashes leader Darryll Fish and Floridian veteran Amir Lehavot to contend with before he could grab the victory.
Brooks seized control of the final table and chip lead in just the third hand at the final table getting it all in with pocket aces against Rajkumar’s pocket queens.
But there would be no record fourth WPT title for Mortensen after he got it in with top pair only to see Brooks river a flush, who settled for $640,680 in third, good enough to put him on top of the WPT's all-time leading money winner's list.
Rajkumar's hopes of a second WPT title ended when he shoved with jack high and was called by Brooks who had flopped a pair of sevens.
The WPT L.A. Poker Classic drew 681 players to the Commerce Casino creating a $6,537,600 prize pool.
Final table results:
1st: Gregory Brooks - $1,654,120
2nd: Vivek Rajkumar - $908,730
3rd: Carlos Mortensen - $640,680
4th: Amir Lehavot - $421,680
5th: Steve Gross - $304,000
6th: Darryll Fish - $235,350
