Chris Grigorian: the Armenian Express

Chris Grigorian is known as the Armenian Express. He is Armenian by birth but now resides in Panorama City, California. He usually stays out of the radar, so little is known about him. Grigorian is notable for being a strong and aggressive player, and for having appeared in many tournaments.

Chris Grigorian seems to prefer playing at cash games than at live tournaments. He usually ends at high stake cash games like the 2004 Orleans Open's $ 500 Limit Hold'em Championship event in Las Vegas. He won first place and bagged $ 44,505. Another victory for Grigorian was at the 2004 LA Poker Classic where he won first place in the $ 500 7-card stud event and took home at total of $ 32,760 cash prize.

Grigorian's performance at Hold'em events always end up with huge cash values. However, his game trend changed with his performance during the 2004 LA Poker Classic event. Grigorian and his opponent, Jaime Perez, were head-to-head during the concluding hand. Perez had 160000 worth of chips and Grigorian had 8000, not even close in order to make a huge bet.

Grigorian made several series of raises and re-raises which are credited for the all-in, that eventually led to his victory. Thanks for Grigorian's tendencies in making aggressive raises, he was able to pull off the biggest bluff, according to him.

The Hustler Casino's Grand Slam of Poker and the 2004 Orleans Open took place at the same time. Card Player Magazine's Jeff Shulman mentioned that Grigorian won three times at the Limit Hold'em games in the said event. According to Shulman, Limit Hold'em is the most challenging and difficult game, and winning from it is an exceptional accomplishment.

Grigorian's friendly gesture towards Daniel Negreanu was noted and recalled by Toronto Life Online's Trevor Cole. It happened at the Bellagio one Wednesday in December where Grigorian approached Negreanu and handed out a bottle of Armenian cognac. However, Negreanu hated cognac but accepted Grigorian's gift politely.

Gregorian only has positive words for Negreanu. He even said on an interview that Daniel Negreanu is admirable for he has helped many people and people like him are surely hard to find these days. Seems like poker runs in Chris Grigorian's blood line. His cousin, Mayan "MG" Grigorian is also a poker buff and quite comparable to Chris. However, it is quite notable that the Armenian Express plays more aggressively than his cousin MG.