LA Poker Classic Live Updates

Cornel Andrew Cimpan starts to bully Binh Nguyen around after taking over the chip lead, putting the boy to the test for his tournament life repeatedly and taking substantial pots from the man with the winning name.

Cimpan brings his stack up to nearly $10 million on the following hand, which saw Cimpan limp his button and Nguyen check his option.

The flop came T♥ 5♣ 2♥ and Nguyen checks to Cimpan, who bets $300k and is called. The turn is the 8♥ and Nguyen checks again. Cimpan bets $700k and Nguyen raises to $1.7 million.

Cimpan thinks for a moment before moving all-in over the top and, looking frustrated, Nguyen lays it down.

A few hands later, Nguyen open-shoves for his last $3.975 million and after asking for a count, Cimpan makes the call, turning up K♣ J♠ to Nguyen's K♥ 5♦.

Cimpan has come back from behind twice to double up and now he's ahead with a chance to win the title. The flop comes 9♦ 9♠ 8♥ and Cimpan retains the lead. The turn is the 3♥ and the title is within reach.

The river is the 5♣ and we're going to play some more. Nguyen rivers a suck-out (only fair) to double up to nearly $6 million and prolong the agony - er, excitement - here at Commerce.

After a protracted bout of relatively unexciting play, Cornel Andrew Cimpan begins moving all-in with reckless abandon, at one point showing down J♠ 2♠ when Bihn Nguyen folds out.

This nonsense goes on for a few hands before Nguyen raises and Cimpan moves all-in over the top. Nguyen insta-calls, turning up A♣ 9♠, and when Cimpan turns up K♣ Q♣, only needs to fade kings, queens and strange combinations to win the title.

The flop, however, comes K♥ J♠ 2♣ and once again, Cimpan flops the best hand while behind. The turn is the K♦ and the boy makes trips, and after the river is the T♦, he has doubled up to take over the chip lead with $8.2 million to Nguyen's $5.7 million.

After 75 hands of passive heads-up play, Cornel Andrew Cimpan raises preflop for the first time. He takes down the pot and flashes T-9 as he rakes the pot.

Meanwhile, Binh Nguyen has built his stack up to $11 million before the following gem occurs:

Nguyen raises to $375,000 and Cimpan moves all-in over the top. Nguyen immediately makes the call, turning up A♥ Q♣. Cimpan is in terrible shape with Q♠ T♣ and will need to hit a ten to stay alive. Yeah, he can also hit some running cards, but still. He's in bad shape.

The flop reverses Nguyen's advantage, though, coming Q♦ T♠ 4♦ and giving Cimpan two pair. The turn is the T♦, and now Nguyen can only hope for a queen to chop.

The river is the 4♦ and Cimpan doubles up, building his stack back up to $4,450,000. Nguyen still has $9,450,000.

Binh Nguyen raises to $375,000 and Cornel Andrew Cimpan makes the call in the big blind. The flop comes Q♠ 6♥ 3♣ and both players check. The turn is the J♣ and Cimpan checks to Nguyen, who bets out $400,000.

Cimpan raises to a cool $1 million and Nguyen makes the call, putting his head in his hands as we go to the river. The river is the 8♠ and Cimpan checks. Nguyen checks behind, turning up K-Q for top pair. Cimpan mucks and Nguyen takes the pot, which is enough to push his stack up over the $10 million marker.

Binh Nguyen raises to $310,000 and Cornel Cimpan makes the call. The flop comes A♣ 5♥ 2♦ and Cimpan checks to Nguyen, who bets out $300,000. Cimpan makes the call and the turn is the K♠.

This time, both players check and the river is the Q♣. Cimpan checks again and Nguyen fires out $1 million. Cimpan folds and Nguyen takes the pot, regaining the chip lead as he does.

A few hands later, Cimpan limps his button and Nguyen checks his option. The flop comes 8♦ 6♣ 4♦ and Nguyen leads out for $175,000. Cimpan makes the call and the turn is the 4♠.

Nguyen bets $350,000 and Cimpan again opts to smooth-call. The river is the 3♣ and Nguyen fires a third barrel, this time of the $600k caliber. Cimpan again calls, only to muck when Nguyen turns up a pocket pair of aces.

Nguyen is now back to around $8.33 million, or just a bit less than what he started the heads-up match with.

After Cornel Cimpan limps in for $120,000, Binh Nguyen checks his option. The flop comes A♣ 6♠ 4♠ and both players check.

The turn is the 9♠ and Nguyen bets out $175,000. Cimpan makes the call and the river is the K♣.

Now Nguyen checks and Cimpan fires, making it $350,000 to go. Nguyen makes the call, turning up A-T to take down the pot.

The hand gives Cimpan - who has ground his way back to even - new title to the chip lead.

On the next hand, Nguyen raises to $310,000 on the button and Cimpan makes the call.

The flop comes 8♦ 7♥ 2♠ and Cimpan check-calls Nguyen's $400,000 wager. The turn is the 7♦ and this time both players check. The river is the 5♣ and they check again.

Both players show an eight, but Cimpan's jack-kicker (J♠ 8♠) takes the pot and extends the boy's lead.

Just moments after Chris Karagulleyan's elimination, Binh Nguyen raises to $300,000 on the button and Cornel Cimpan moves all-in for $2.625 million from the small blind.

In the big blind, Mike Sowers asks for a count and, after a moment or two, makes the call with 5♦ 5♠ to Cimpan's A♠ Q♥. It's another race.

The flop comes A♣ 4♦ 2♦ and Cimpan flops the best hand, though Sowers still has the gut-shot straight draw.

The turn is the K♣ and Cimpan needs to dodge fives and threes to stay alive. The river is the 2♥ and his crowd goes wild; he's doubled through Mike Sowers and is still alive.

A few hands later, Sowers raised to $300,000 on the button and Nguyen made it a million to go from the small blind. Cimpan got out of the way in the big blind and Sowers moved all-in over the top, putting his last $2.425 million on the line.

Nguyen insta-called, tabling a pocket pair of queens to counter Sowers' pocket fours.

The board came J♣ 9♥ 8♥ J♠ K♣ and the queens held, busting SowersUNCC in third place and reducing the field to two.

Heads-up play is about to begin between Binh Nguyen and Cornel Cimpan with Nguyen holding $8.45 million to Cimpan's $5.45 million.

Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion!

Update: Cards are in the air and heads-up play is under way.

This final table is now 100% Chris-free, after Chris Ferguson's elimination in sixth place and WPT1 Legends of Poker champ Chris Karagulleyan's fourth-place elimination just moments ago.

In Karagulleyan's final hand, Cornel Cimpan open-shoved all-in for $1,285,000 from the small blind and Karagulleyan made the call for his tournament life in the big, tabling A♥ 9♦ against Cimpan's Q♣ 8♣.

The flop came A♦ Q♥ T♠, giving both players a piece, but Karagulleyan retained the lead as his legions of fans/backers celebrated in the aisles.

The turn, however, was the heartbreaking Q♠, giving Cimpan trips and leaving Karagulleyan needing an ace to continue.

The river card was the 7♠, however, and the queens held, giving Cimpan the pot and busting Karagulleyan in fourth place for $430,963, the biggest score of his seven-year career - discounting, of course, the approximately 80% of his action that he sold off before the tournament began.

Binh Nguyen raises to $250,000 on the button and Pat Walsh reraises to $950,000 from the big blind. Nguyen puts Walsh all-in and after some thought, the Missourian makes the call, turning up A♦ 2♠ against Nguyen's A♥ J♥.

Walsh is going to need bocoo help to stay alive, and after the flop comes T♠ T♦ 7♥ he picks up some chop outs. The turn is the 3♦, however, and the river the 5♥. The jack plays and Nguyen takes the pot, busting Walsh in fifth place for a $310,694 payday.

Action continues four-handed.

As we started writing this post, Binh Nguyen had just built his stack to above the $6 million mark, but dude just shipped a massive pot to Mike Sowers and has relinquished the chip lead.

Here's the story:

So, Nguyen was chip leader when he raised to $225,000 from the button and saw Pat Walsh make the call in the big blind. The flop came T♦ 9♣ 4♦ and Walsh checked to Nguyen, who bet $300,000. 

Walsh made the call and the turn was the 5♥. Again, Walsh checked to Nguyen, who this time bet out $600,000. Again, Walsh called.

The river was the 7♥ and both players checked. Nguyen turned up K♠ T♠ for top pair, tens, and it was good to take a $2.35 million pot.

Binh winning, Binh losing!

Nguyen would further bolster his advantage on the very next hand, raising from the cut-off and getting a call from Chris Karagulleyan in the big blind. 

The two players checked to the river on a K♣ K♠ T♠ 2♦ 7♦ board before Karagulleyan bet out $425,000. Nguyen tanked before calling and took down the pot with A-7 for two pair.

But just moments ago ...

Sowers raised to $250,000 on the button and Nguyen reraised to $750,000 in the small blind. Action folded back to Sowers, who moved all-in for $2.81 million, and Nguyen tanked for about a year before deciding to make the call.

Sowers turned up K♣ Q♣ and was racing for his tournament life against Nguyen's 7♣ 7♠.

The board came Q♠ 5♠ 3♦ 5♣ T♦ and Sowers took the pot with queens-up, doubling through Nguyen and taking over the chip lead with $5,760,000 to his name.

UPDATE: Pat Walsh has been eliminated. Stay tuned.

Down to scratch not long ago, Pat Walsh has made the most of a couple of smooth double-ups and is now back to around the chip average as play continues five-handed.

First, Walsh doubled through Cornel Cimpan for $760,000 when he got all-in with A♥ Q♠ against Cimpan's A♠ J♠.

The board came K♥ 6♥ 3♣ A♦ T♦ and the queen played, giving Cimpan the pot and doubling him up to $1.7 million.

Then, having seen his stack drop to $1.24 million, Walsh open-shoved all-in from the cut-off and saw Mike Sowers move all-in over the top to isolate. 

Nobody else wanted to play, and Sowers turned up A♥ J♣ to race Walsh's pocket tens for the latter's tournament life.

Binh Nguyen-ing plenty pots!

The flop came T♠ 8♣ 5♥, giving Walsh the set, and after the board finished out 2♦ 5♦ Walsh made a boat, enough to double through Sowers and build his stack to $2.71 million.

Sowers is now down to $1.63 million.

On the topic of chip leader, however, you'll want to take a long look at Binh Nguyen, who just assumed the mantle after taking the following pot from Cimpan:

Nguyen limped in from the small blind and Cimpan checked his option in the big. The flop came Q♥ J♥ 8♠ and Nguyen led out for $125,000. Cimpan made the call and the turn was the A♦.

Nguyen checked this time, and Cimpan bet $300,000. Nguyen raised to $900,000 and Cimpan laid it down, conceding the pot to the boy.

Chris "Jesus" Ferguson has been eliminated from this event, taking sixth place for a $240,538 payday. 

In his climactic hand, Ferguson raised to $300,000 out of the small blind and Cornel Cimpan defended in the big blind. The flop came T♠ 8♦ 8♥ and Ferguson checked to Cimpan, who put the Full Tilt pro all-in.

Ferguson tanked, giving the matter his careful consideration before ultimately making the call for his last $1,350,000, turning up A♣ K♣ and finding himself behind Cimpan's 4♥ 4♠.

According to the world-famous PokerListings.com odds calculator , Ferguson is a 60-40 dog in this hand and will need some help to stay alive.

The turn is the 6♣, giving Ferguson a few more outs to stay alive, but the river card is the 3♣ and the fours play, giving Cimpan the pot and sending Jesus to the rail.

We're now five-handed here at Commerce.

Mike Sowers is making a strong push to take down his first-ever WPT title, having taken a massive pot from Chris "Jesus" Ferguson moments ago. In fact, the boy has been in the center of most of the most notable hands from the last few rounds of play.

Here's a rundown:

First, Sowers defended his big blind against a preflop raise by Cornel Cimpan, and both players checked to the river when the board came A♦ K♦ Q♥ K♠ 3♠.

On fifth street, Sowers bet out $325,000 and got a call from his opponent, who mucked when SowersUNCC turned up A-7 for aces-up.

A few hands later, Sowers gave it back to Cimpan, plus interest.

No miracles!

The kid raised to $200k from middle position and Cimpan called in the small blind. The flop came K♠ 3♠ 2♣ and Cimpan check-called a $325,000 bet from Sowers.

The turn was the Q♥ and both players checked, but when the river brought the K♣, Cimpan again check-called, this time for $520,000.

Sowers turned up 9♣ 8♣ for nine-high, and Cimpan showed pocket sevens for two pair to take the pot.

Then, just moments ago, Sowers raised to $200k in the cut-off and Ferguson made the call in the small blind.

The flop came J♣ 8♥ 2♥ and Ferguson checked to Sowers, who bet out $250,000. The Full Tilt pro moved all-in over the top and Sowers snap-called for his last $1,090,000, turning up a pocket pair of kings to counter Fergie's Q♦ J♦.

The turn was the K♣, ending the suspense early, and Sowers had doubled through Ferguson to the tune of $2,920,000. Ferguson is down to his last $990,000.

Chris "Jesus" Ferguson has pulled himself back out of the danger zone here at the final table of the World Poker Tour's Los Angeles Poker Classic, showing no fear when it comes to getting his short stack in the middle preflop, and thus far avoiding getting looked up when he does so.

Ferguson has managed to pull his stack up to just below $2 million, having picked up $260k from Pat Walsh by shipping over the top of Walsh's preflop raise.

Later, he also scooped $200k from Mike Sowers after defending his blind against SowersUNCC and inducing a fold by betting the river on a Q♦ 4♠ 3♠ K♥ 7♠ board.

Meanwhile, Chris Karagulleyan has taken the biggest pot of the final table thus far, also at Walsh's expense.

Walsh raised to $290,000 from the cut-off, and Karagulleyan made the call on the button. The flop came T♦ T♠ 4♣ and Walsh led out for $300k. Karagulleyan made the call and the turn was the 4♥, prompting cheers from the spectator gallery, most of whom, it seems, had never seen a double-paired board before.

Walsh checked to Karagulleyan, who bet $500,000 into the $1.6 million pot. After some thought, Walsh folded out and C-K took the pot.

We've just had a tape-change break, but the cards are back in the air from the Crowne Ballroom at Commerce.

Chris Ferguson opened the first big hand of the final table with a raise to $160,000 and was called by Cornel Cimpan in the cut-off. The flop came J♠ 8♦ 2♣ and both players checked.

The turn was the 6♥, and Ferguson check-called a $175,000 wager from his rival.

The river was the T♠ and again Ferguson check-called, this time for $225,000. Cimpan turned up a pocket pair of queens and the Full Tilt pro mucked, conceding the pot and diminishing his stack to less than $1 million.

Ferguson would move all-in twice in a row a few hands later, getting no callers and taking down the blinds and antes. He's still the short stack, but the blinds and antes are still small enough that Jesus is in no grave danger yet.

Meanwhile, Chris Karagulleyan has relinquished the chip lead to Binh Nguyen. Nguyen took a big pot from Cimpan on the 12th hand at the final table when the two players got into a raising war on a 9♠ 7♦ 4♠ flop that saw Cimpan check-raise Nguyen's $200k c-bet to $600k.

Undeterred, Nguyen moved all-in over the top for $1.735 million, and Cimpan was forced to lay it down.

Nguyen has since added a number of small pots and is the chip leader with more than $3 million to his name.

Welcome back to the Commerce Casino and the TV final table of the 2009 Los Angeles Poker Classic. From an initial starting field of 696 souls, we've distilled the field down to the final six, an exclusive contingent that includes Jesus, an Internet whiz kid and a throwback WPT champion.

WPT Season 1 Legends of Poker champ Chris Karagulleyan enters the day as chip leader, and Team Full Tilt pro Chris "Jesus" Ferguson brings up the rear, with online sensation Mike "SowersUNCC" Sowers second in chips as we prepare to get under way.

Cards will be in the air in about a half-hour, so keep it locked on PokerListings.com and we'll make sure you've got all you need from the final table of the LAPC!