Chris “Jesus” Ferguson is sitting at the final table of the 2009 LA Poker Classic. He’s in a good position to follow fellow Full Tilt pro, Phil Ivey, as the champion of this event. Sitting in seat one with 1,565,000 chips, Ferguson may be the short stack but he’s long on talent. “Jesus” just may pull off a miracle here.
Ferguson, of course, has an NBC National Heads Up Championship, several World Series of Poker Circuit Main Events and a WSOP Main Event title (among others) under his belt. The Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California is a fixture at final tables worldwide and one of the best poker players ever.
Sitting in seat two is Cornel Cimpan. With 1,740,000 chips, the 10 time cash finisher has amassed more than $160,000 in tournament earnings thus far in his career. No stranger to final tables – he’s made six so far – Cimpan looks to add significantly to that figure with his finish here.
Pat Walsh holds the third seat and 2,200,000 chips. To date, his biggest cash was a fifteenth place finish in the 2005 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure. Having made a total of six final tables in small tournaments, Walsh, who hails from Valley Village, CA, is also looking at the biggest cash of his career.
Seat #4 is set for Chris Karagulleyan, a resident of Glendale (CA) and a regular of the Commerce Casino. Karagulleyan has won a total of eight poker tournaments so far in his career so he’s no stranger to titles. He’s also the first Legends of Poker winner (2002). With his experience and chip stack – 4,080,000 and first position – he’s the odds-on favorite to win the whole she-bang.
Mike Sowers is best known as SowersUNCC. The young gun has won more than $1,000,000 online and took down a $5,000 preliminary event at the 2008 Borgata Winter Open. The talented rounder is second in chips, but has a big road ahead of him if he’s to overtake Karagulleyan.
Finally, in sixth position is newcomer Binh Nguyen. Nguyen, a resident of San Jose, took out Jeremy Kottler in 13th position and holds 1,895,000 chips.