There are a few events on the World Poker Tour that are considered really special, and the L.A. Poker Classic is one of them.

The L.A. Poker Classic is the tour stop for the Commerce Casino, the largest poker room in the United States. If there's a long-term live professional poker player in the country, and possibly in the world, they have played at the Commerce Casino.

The L.A. Poker Classic is looked forward to by professionals and amateurs alike, and even many Hollywood celebrities turn out to take their shot at WPT fame.

WPT 2009 in Retrospect: The L.A. Poker Classic

In 2009, a good mix of pros and amateurs made the final table, including long time cash game specialist Chris Kargulleyan, who entered the final table with a commanding four million plus in chips, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, 2000 main event champion, and Internet pro Mike Sowers. Rounding out the field were Pat Walsh, Binh Nguyen and Cornel Cimpan. Hopes were high for Ferguson, who has collected wins at numerous WSOP and WSOP Circuit events, but as a short stack, he was going to have to make some moves fast.

The L.A. Poker Classic Final Table

Ferguson lost a bunch of those precious chips early when he called down Cornel Cimpan on a Jack high board and Cimpan showed pocket queens, but several all-in moves got Ferguson back to his original stack.

Finally Pat Walsh was forced to move all-in but was fortunate to be called by Cimpan's AJ when he held AQ, allowing Walsh to double up. This put the pressure on Ferguson, who called all-in on a T 8 8 flop holding AK. Cimpan's pocket fours held up and Ferguson was gone.

After Ferguson exited, the target was on Walsh's back and he got knocked out with A2 against Binh Nguyen's AJ. Karagulleyan was the next out, followed by Sowers, leaving Cimpan heads up with Nguyen.

About halfway through the match it looked all but over, as Nguyen had a fearsome chip stack of nearly 12 million compared to Cimpan's stack of less than two million.

No Justice in Poker

However, this is why they make deals, because anything can happen when you get to heads up. Nguyen's first chance to put Cimpan away came when he got it all in dominating Cimpan's QT with AQ. A board of Q T 5 T 4 demonstrated that the poker gods may have had other plans.

Those gods again mocked Nguyen when he got it in good once more, with A9 vs. KQ, and fate mercilessly threw a king right out on the flop. Cimpan got it in bad a third time to his advantage with A4 of hearts against pocket tens when a runner flush came.

The sick string of beats mercifully ended for poor Nguyen when he finally got his remaining chips in with A9 against K5, and was sucked out on a final time as a 5 hit the board, making Cimpan the champion.