Cornel Cimpan Wins L.A. Poker Classic

The L.A. Poker Classic recently completed their main event and Cornel Cimpan took home the title, winning almost $1.7 million dollars. Cimpan started the final table 5th in chips but was able to steadily move up the ladder. Professional poker player Chris Ferguson was the big name at the final table but he finished in 6th place, winning $240,538. Pat Walsh was next to go, followed by Chris Karagulleyan.

The third place finisher was Mike Sowers which left Binh Nguyen to battle it out with Cimpan for the title. The final heads-up battle lasted for over five hours with Nguyen taking the early lead. Cimpan continued to fight back though and eventually won the title.

Nguyen was the hard luck loser as four times in the heads-up battle he had the best hand but was outdrawn. Nguyen earned almost $1 million dollars for his second place finish.

In other poker news, Freddy Deeb was able to win the WPT Celebrity Invitational poker tournament at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. A total of 433 people competed for the title and Deeb took home the $100,000 first place prize.

The event was full of celebrities who really don’t play poker very well so Deeb didn’t have to beat a full field of talented players but there were some pros that were invited including Chris Ferguson, Eli Elezra, Humberto Brenes, Gavin Smith and others.

Deeb ended up doing battle with Nick Gonzalez for the title. The final hand saw Deeb’s pair of 8’s against Gonzalez’s A-6. Gonzalez was able to pair his six but couldn’t improve any more and Deeb’s hand held up.

Deeb won the $100,000 first place prize and a seat at the WPT Championship. Gonzalez got $50,000 for finishing second.

WPT Celebrity Invitational Results

1st: Freddy Deeb - $100,000
2nd: Nick Gonzalez - $50,000
3rd: Tom Hall - $20,000
4th: Scott Clements - $15,000
5th: Ottavio Tassone - $10,000
6th: Jose "J.J." Tavares - $5,000

The WPT Tour moves to San Jose next for the Bay 101 Shooting Stars tournament on March 16th followed by the WPT Championship at Foxwoods in April.