Vivek Rajkumar took down the 2009 LAPC Heads-Up Tournament for $350,000.

Vivek Rajkumar is only 22 years old, but he’s already getting used to the feeling of lifting fistfuls of cash in the air. Last night Rajkumar, the winner of more than $1.4 million at last year’s World Poker Tour event at the Borgata, took down the $10,000 LA Poker Classic Heads-Up Championship for another $350,000 in earnings.

The LA Poker Classic has been running at Commerce Casino for decades now but this was its first a heads-up tournament. The 111-player field unsurprisingly featured some heavy hitters, including the likes of J.C. Tran, 2008 BLUFF Magazine Player-of-the-Year John Phan, Gavin Smith, Barry Greenstein, David Benyamine, Layne Flack, Nick Schulman, Mark Seif, Johnny Chan, Michael Mizrachi, Eli Elezra, Clonie Gowen, and Howard Lederer.

“This was the first time a $10,000 Heads-Up Championship was included in the LA Poker Classic, and I think it’s safe to say it was a hit,” said tournament director Matt Savage.  “The top players from the poker world came out to up the level of competition at this Commerce Casino event, and I think we will highly consider keeping this as part of the lineup in future LA Poker Classics.”

The tournament also provided a unique twist on the average heads-up tourney. It featured a double-elimination format, which allows a player to lose one game but still win the tournament.

Rajkumar took that path, working his way through the losers’ bracket after losing a match early on in the tournament. He made it to the final round with a record of 10-1. Meanwhile his opponent in the finals, 2008 Wynn Classic winner Chris Moore of Chicago, Ill., cruised through to the finals with an unscathed record of 7-0, meaning he only needed to win once against Rajkumar to lay claim to the title. In the end Rajkumar took both matches, leaving Moore the runner-up with $190,000.

“I’ve been up playing poker for 17 hours straight and I’m exhausted,” Rajkumar said afterward. “But the fact that I won the very first LA Poker Classic $10,000 Heads-Up Championship is great.  I learned a lot all week about Heads-Up play, and talked with several other pros throughout the event that helped improve my game.  This victory fills me with a lot of confidence going into the LAPC No Limit Hold’em Championship.”

1. Vivek Rajkumar - $350,000
2. Chris Moore - $190,000
3. James Mackey - $100,000
4. David Oppenheim - $75,000

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