It was a fitting end to yet another big poker tournament.

And while it was supposed to be Chris Ferguson’s time to shine, the favored poker pro floundered and Cornel Andrew Cimpan was crowned the 2009 L.A. Poker Classic champion.

Almost 700 players competed for the title but in the end, it was luck that determined the latest World Poker Tour champion. For overcoming the odds (and a marathon heads-up match against Binh Nguyen), Cimpan wins $1,686,250 in first prize money.

It was unfortunate for Chris Jesus Ferguson since he was in the chip lead before ending up with the shortest stack in the final table. He was eliminated first in what has been one of the biggest collapses in the tourney.

In his final hand, Ferguson raised only to be called by eventual champion Cornel Andrew Cimpan pre-flop. Flop was 10s-8d-8h. Ferguson checked and Cimpan moved in over the top pushing the pro all-in with pocket 4s. After thinking about it for a long time, Ferguson called with Ac-Kc.

Unfortunately for Jesus, God wasn’t on his side this time as the turn and river drew blanks. (We apologize for the blasphemous remark…)

Pat Walsh was eliminated next when his all-in preflop with Ad-2s were just no match against Binh Nguyen’s Ah-Jh. Fourth place and $430,963 went to another former chip leader, Chris Karagulleyan. Both players went all-in pre-flop and although Karagulleyan’s A-9 led Cimpan’s Q-8, a Q hit the flop and sealed his fate.

Mike Sowers was the next to fall. He raised pre-flop with pocket fours and ended up facing a re-raise by Nguyen. Sowers countered by moving all-in but found himself out of luck when Nguyen showed his pocket Queens. Sowers goes home with $654,797 for third place.

Nguyen dominated Cimpan going into heads-up play with 8.4 million in chips versus Cimpan’s 5.47 million. But unfortunately for Nguyen, it was Cimpan’s lucky day as the former ended up suffering one bad beat after another. In the final hand, Nguyen held A-9 versus Cimpan’s K-5. The tables turned when a 5 hit the flop and Nguyen was left with $935,424 for his runner-up finish.

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Chris Ferguson Cornel Andrew Cimpan