In August of 2002, Chris Karagulleyan took down the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Legends of Poker during the tournament series’ very first season. The final table featured the introduction of then-amateur pro Mark Seif, with Stan Goldstein, Can Kim Hua, and Hon Le also appearing. Six and a half years later, Karagulleyan is back in the spotlight, holding a commanding chip lead entering the final table of the L.A. Poker Classic.
Karagulleyan is the proud owner of 4.1 million chips, nearly double the next closest stack, which belongs to Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers; the online poker pro holds 2.4 million. Karagulleyan’s Season I WPT victory was worth $258,000. He took 29th in the Foxwoods World Poker Finals during Season III for $31,000 and finished 95th in the same tournament one year later for $11,000. It’s been a long road for the Beruit native back to a WPT final table, as his tournament series profile notes that he has lost a portion of his poker winnings to other forms of gambling.
Here are the chip stacks of the six survivors entering final table play on Thursday:
1st in chips: Chris Karagulleyan, 4,080,000
2nd in chips: Mike Sowers, 2,405,000
3rd in chips: Pat Walsh, 2,200,000
4th in chips: Binh Nguyen, 1,895,000
5th in chips: Cornel Andrew Cimpan, 1,740,000
6th in chips: Chris Ferguson, 1,565,000
On his first WPT tournament win in 2002, Karagulleyan told Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman, “There were only 157 players, but they were good. It was tough. This is going to be a challenge, but I think I’ll win. I’ll do my best to win it for my fans.” On his competition, he added, “I like everyone and they’re good players. I like the way they play because they muck fast and they don’t take a lot of time to act.”
Mike Sowers is a final table veteran as well. He earned face time on ESPN during the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) by finishing eighth in the $10,000 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em Championship. The star-studded final table included eventual bracelet winner Nenad Medic, along with Andy Bloch, Kathy Liebert, Poker News Daily columnist and WPT Host Mike Sexton, Amit “amak316” Makhija, Patrik Antonius, and Phil Laak. He also finished as the runner up in a $1,060 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Second Chance tournament held during the most recent Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS).
Chris “Jesus” Ferguson is making his second WPT televised table appearance and his first in an “open” event. Ferguson finished fourth in the WPT Invitational in 2005 for $15,000. That tournament, which also featured Johan Storakers, Tom Everett Scott, and Chau Giang, was won by Alex Brenes. Ferguson is the owner of five WSOP bracelets and won the Main Event in 2000 after defeating T.J. Cloutier. He’s also reached the finals of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which airs on NBC, three times in the four years it’s been held and owns an amazing 16-3 record. Last year marked the first as its champion and he’ll be on site at the Caesars Palace poker room to defend his title in a few weeks when the fifth running of the event begins. He’s also a popular ambassador of the game through his work with the Poker Players Alliance (PPA).
Play resumes at 4:00pm Pacific Time on Thursday and will conclude when a winner is determined. Here are the chip stacks heading into the final table:
1st: Chris Karagulleyan – 4,080,000
2nd: Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers – 2,405,000
3rd: Pat Walsh – 2,200,000
4th: Binh Nguyen – 1,895,000
5th: Cornel Andrew Cimpan – 1,740,000
6th: Chris Ferguson – 1,565,000
Wednesday’s play saw the field dwindle from 20 players down to six. The final standings from the day along with the payouts for each player are as follows:
7th: Blake Cahail – $180,403
8th: Payman Arjang – $133,632
9th: Mark Bryan – $96,883
10th: Tam Ly – $64,477
11th: Donnie D’Auria – $64,477
12th: Zach Hyman – $64,477
13th: Jeremy Kottler – $57,796
14th: Peter Feldman – $57,796
15th: Dan Lu – $57,796
16th: Teddy Monroe – $51,114
17th: Nick Schulman – $51,114
18th: Xuan Nguyen – $51,114
19th: Matt Woodward – $44,433
20th: Billy Pilossoph – $44,433
Amazingly, Donnie D’Auria won a Season Pass during a WPT Boot Camp, allowing him to freeroll his way into several events, including the L.A. Poker Classic. The tournament’s winner will take home nearly $1.7 million. Check back to Poker News Daily on Friday for the results of the marquee WPT event.
