The championship match between Chris Moore and Vivek Rajkumar began a little tentatively, but that probably had more to do with the low 100-200 blinds than the nerves of the two players. Here is a look at how the big hands of the match played out:

Moore Knocks out one of Rajkumar’s Legs

A flop of K 3 2 sat on the table along with 4,200 in the pot when Moore bet 2,000. Rajkumar went into the tank on the button and then made the call. Both players checked the 4 on the turn and the river fell 3. Rajkumar bet 3,600 and Moore reraised all in for 13,500 more after thinking for a minute. Rajkumar mucked and Moore jumped out to a quick lead with 26,000.

Rajkumar’s Stack Falls to Four Figures

A flop of A 10 7 sat on the table along with 2,800 in the pot and both players checked before the 3 fell on the turn. Rajkumar bet 2,500 and Moore made the call. Both players then checked the K on the river and Moore flipped over Q 10. Rajkumar mucked and his stack dropped to 8,500.

Queen-Jack is Nice Twice for Moore

On a board of K J 6 10 with 1,000 in the pot Rajkumar bet 700 from the button and Moore made the call. Both players then checked the A on the river and Moore revealed Q J. Rajkumar mucked and his stack fell to 6,500.

A few hands later Rajkumar opened the post-flop action once again on the turn. This time a board of K Q 9 2 sat on the table along with an 800 pot when Rajkumar bet 500. Moore made the call on the button and the J fell on the river. Rajkumar bet 1,700 and Moore made the call. Moore flipped over Q J and once again Rajkumar mucked. His stack was below 5,000 after the hand.

Chris Moore Wins the L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 Heads-Up Championship ($152,200)

Vivek Rajkumar opened the action after a flop of K 7 5 sat on the table by betting 500 on the button into a pot of 800. Moore check-raised to 1,600 total and Rajkumar counted out his remaining chips before making the call.

The 2 fell on the turn and Moore bet 5,000, which was enough to put Rajkumar all in. He made the all-in call and they flipped over their cards:

Rajkumar: K 7
Moore: Q 8

River: 9

Moore won the hand and the tournament with a turned flush and he takes home the championship after falling in second place against Rajkumar last year. Moore takes home the first-place prize worth $152,200, a $10,000 seat in the L.A. Poker Classic main event, the iconic cowboy championship trophy, and a championship watch. Rajkumar made a valiant effort to defend his heads-up title and takes home $76,100 in second place.

Stay tuned for a recap of the day’s events and check back on Friday for coverage of the $10,000 World Poker Tour no-limit hold’em championship at the L.A. Poker Classic at Commerce Casino.

Vivek Rajkumar and Chris Moore have returned for the finals.

Rajkumar has lost one match on his path to the final while Moore has lost none, so Rajkumar will have to beat Moore twice if he wants to win it all.

Up for grabs is $152,200 for first and $76,100 for second.

The two players begin with 20,000 in chips and blinds are 100-200 for the first 30-minute level.

The rematch of last year’s final begins.

A quick match just transpired in the loser’s bracket final. Vivek Rajkumar once again jumped out to an early lead when he made a nice call early in the match. Aaron Jones bet 3,700 from the button on a board of A J 9 5 7. The pot already had 6,000 in the pot so Rajkumar was enticed to think about making the call.

He eventually did make the call and Jones flipped over K 10. Rajkumar showed down 8 7 and he won the pot to take the chip lead with 26,000. Jones was down to 14,000 and during the next five minutes Rajkumar chipped away at his stack and Jones was down to 10,000.

A few minutes after that some fireworks erupted. Jones made it 500 to play preflop and Rajkumar reraised to 1,500. Jones moved all in and Rajkumar made the call. Their cards:

Rajkumar: K K
Jones: A K

Board: 9 6 4 J 3

Rajkumar won the hand and he advances to the overall final in the tournament for the second year in a row. Jones was eliminated in third place and he will take home $45,660.

The first match in the final rounds on the loser’s side of the bracket has turned into a marathon match between Vivek Rajkumar and Michael Binger. I appeared that things were going to end quickly after Binger won a large flush over flush pot that left Rajkumar crippled. Rajkumar quickly doubled up after the big hand and he has played well on the short stack since. He was awarded another double up a short time ago that has all but evened up the match. Binger still holds a slight lead at the moment. Here are the biggest hands from the match so far:

Flush over Flush

There was 13,000 in the pot and a board of K J 6 4 8 sitting on the table when Binger bet 7,000. Rajkumar thought for a moment and then made the call. They flipped over their cards and although Rajkumar held 10 9 for a flush Binger revealed A 5 for the nut flush. Rajkumar was left with 5,000 after the hand and Binger held 35,000.

Rajkumar Doubles Up

Rajkumar moved all in preflop and Binger made the call. Their cards:

Binger: A 3
Rajkumar: A 5

Board: 10 8 5 5 6

Rajkumar doubled up to 10,000 after the hand.

Avoiding Quads

On a board of J 7 7 Binger bet 600 and Rajkumar made the call. Both players checked the 2 on the turn and the 3 fell on the river. Rajkumar checked, Binger bet 1,700, and Rajkumar made the call after some thought. Binger flipped over pocket sevens for quads and Rajkumar mucked.

Rajkumar Doubles Up Again

Rajkumar was all in once again preflop and Binger had him covered. Their cards:

Binger: 8 8
Rajkumar: K 9

Board: K Q 7 J 10

Rajkumar doubled up to 15,000 and the match continued.

Alex Keating vs. Michael Binger

Michael Binger got out to an early lead in his match against Alex Keating and things never really swung back the other way. On the final hand Keating was all in on the river of a Q J 4 7 A board and Binger was waiting to make the call. Keating held Q 8 and Binger revealed K Q to win the match. Binger advanced to part I of the loser’s bracket final after the hand.

Vivek Rajkumar vs. Anthony Guetti

Vivek Rajkumar took a slight lead in the match but it wasn’t until he bet 6,500 on a board of J J 8 A 10 and Anthony Guetti mucked that he really started to dominate. Rajkumar collected the 14,000 pot that sat in the middle of the table after Guetti mucked and he grew his stack to 26,800.

Guetti held 13,200 after the hand and during a long lull between any big pots Rajkumar began to lean on his opponent and increased his lead pot by pot. Rajkumar cotninued to wear down his opponent until the final hand of their match. Guetti limped preflop and Rajkumar bet 1,100. Guetti raised all in and Rajkumar made the call. Rajkumar flipped over A-Q and Guetti revealed pocket nines. The board ran out A-10-3-6-6 and Rajkumar advanced to the first round of the finals on the loser’s side of the bracket.

This keeps alive the hopes for a rematch of last year’s winner vs. loser bracket champions final that took place between Chris Moore and Rajkumar.