Cornel Andrew Cimpan Wins WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals

Taking place concurrently with the conclusion of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in Las Vegas was the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Foxwoods World Poker Finals. There, Cornel Andrew Cimpan took down his second WPT title.

Play began last week with 353 runners and as the cards flew at the final table, Cimpan held the chip lead. It took all of two hands for an elimination to occur, as Lee Markholt hit the skids after getting his money in ahead with A-K pre-flop against Matt “All In At 420” Stout’s A-6 of spades. Stout hit a flush on the river to secure Markholt’s exit and the pro banked $166,000 for his final table appearance in the $10,000 buy-in tournament.

Curt Kohlberg followed 20 hands later with A-Q. Soheil Shamseddin called the all-in pre-flop with pocket twos, setting up a race situation. Kohlberg flopped top two pair on an A-Q-5 board and a jack on the turn kept him ahead. However, Shamseddin hit lightning in a bottle on the river, when one of the two remaining deuces in the deck peeled off, eliminating Kohlberg in fifth place for $199,000. Then, it was Eric “EFro” Froehlich’s turn to depart after coming out on the short end of a race with A-K against Shamseddin’s pocket fours. The board came 10-5-2-9-8 and Froehlich, a dual WSOP bracelet winner, earned $232,000 at Foxwoods.

Three-handed, Stout doubled up both Shamseddin and Cimpan to give each new life with the $910,000 first place prize in the offing. On the 145th hand of final table play, Stout was bounced from the WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals in third place, earning $265,000. He was all-in pre-flop with 3-2 and all three players saw the first three cards come 9-6-6. Shamseddin bet, Cimpan folded, and Stout saw that he was up against A-6. Stout jokingly commented, “I have the nut low,” when flipping up his hand and he banked $265,000 for his third place effort.

Entering heads-up play, Shamseddin held a 3:1 (8.0 million to 2.5 million) chip lead over Cimpan, who promptly doubled up when his pocket queens withstood Shamseddin’s A-K in a race. Shamseddin would battle back to regain the chip lead, but Cimpan doubled through once more, this time with pocket aces against A-J. In the final hand, Shamseddin was all-in with K-J, but ran into Cimpan’s A-J. Cimpan earned $910,000 for the win and his second WPT title; his first came in the Season VII L.A. Poker Classic. In that event, Cimpan bested Binh Nguyen in a talented final table that also included Mike “UNCCSowers” Sowers, Chris Karagulleyan, and Chris Ferguson.

Here were the results:

1. Cornel Andrew Cimpan – $910,058
2. Soheil Shamseddin – $463,332
3. Matt Stout – $265,710
4. Eric Froehlich – $232,496
5. Curt Kohlberg – $199,283
6. Lee Markholt – $166,069

Other notable names who cashed in the WPT Foxwoods Poker Finals included:

7. Kenna James – $132,855
8. Steve Brecher – $99,641
9. Adam “Roothlus” Levy – $66,427
11. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi – $46,499
12. Todd Terry – $46,499
18. Terrence “Unassigned” Chan – $31,533
21. Jason Mercier – $26,571
33. Nenad Medic – $21,588
34. Eric “sheets” Haber – $21,588

On Day 5 of the World Poker Finals, the field shrunk from 10 players to six and, amazingly enough, Shamseddin knocked out each of the four players to set up the televised final table. Markholt and Cimpan had each taken down WPT titles before. Next up for the roving tournament series is the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio. The action gets underway on December 14th.

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Useful poker information:

LOCK - A hand that cannot be beat under any circumstances. Also: NUTS.
DEALER'S CHOICE - In home games, a rule that permits the dealer to name which poker game to be played that hand. Often limited to selecting from a list provided.
CHASE - To continue in a hand, often at poor odds, in the hopes of catching a much better hand. "He called, chasing the flush.".
CALLER - One who calls. Sometimes used collectively, as in "3 callers".
ROYAL FLUSH - An ace-high straight flush, the best possible hand in regular poker.
OMAHA - A variant of Hold'em where each player receives 4 hole cards and must use exactly two of them (together with 3 of 5 board cards) to make a hand. Often played high-low split with an 8 qualifier for low.

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