Cornel Andrew Cimpan Wins 2009 WPT Foxwoods World Poker Finals

Cornel Andrew Cimpan bested a field of 353 players to win the $10,000 buy-in 2009 WPT World Poker Finals and take down the top prize of $910,058.
Cimpan was the chip leader as play got underway at the 6 man final table, and two deals later there was the first casualty as Lee Markholt pushed with AK pre-flop only to to be called and outdrawn by Matt “All In At 420” Stout’s As6s flush on the river. Markholt finished in sixth for a $166,000 pay day.
Twenty deals later Curt Kohlberg departed the tournament dramatically after pushing pre-flop with AQ. Soheil Shamseddin called with pocket deuces, and despite Kohlberg hitting two pair on the A-Q-5 flop, a miraculous 2 on the river eliminated him from the tournament for a $199,000 fifth place finish.
The ace picture cards continued their run of ill fortune after Eric “EFro” Froehlich exited after his A-K race against Shamseddin’s pocket fours received no help from the board and the two time bracelet winner departed in fourth for $232,000.
A little later it was Matt Stout’s turn to bow out after he was all-in pre-flop with 3-2 and called in two spots by the remaining players. He took home $265,000 for his third place finish.
Shamseddin had 8 million chips and a 3 to 1 advantage over his opponent’s 2.5 million chips but that was soon to change after Cimpan doubled up when his QQ cracked Shamseddin’s AK and a little later held the winning AA against Shamseddin’s AJ.
The final hand saw Shamseddin all-in with K-J but badly dominated by his opponents AJ with the eventual outcome being a first place finish for Cimpan and $910,000 prize money whilst Shamseddin had to be content with a runner-up position and $463,332.
Following his victory, a jubilant and somewhat immodest Cimpan commented: “He was tough, but I’m just a little bit better. It was nowhere near as tough as the L.A. final table.” The 38 year old from Texas has now got two WPT titles under his belt, as well as earnings of $2,931,202 in lifetime tournament winnings.