Home / Poker News June 2009 / Vitaly Lunkin wins $40,000 anniversary event, pocketing $1,891,012
Vitaly Lunkin wins $40,000 anniversary event, pocketing $1,891,012
Posted by: James Carter. - Tue, 2009-06-02 08:06
It’s official: Vitaly Lunkin is the biggest earner of the 2009 WSOP so far. Lunkin won the biggest buy-in NL Holdem event ever, the $40,000 anniversary special, where he bested Isaac Haxton heads-up after surviving one of the toughest fields the poker world could muster.
Haxton started the final table in the chip lead. The hostilities would drag on for a massive ten hours before a winner would be declared though, and that winner would not be him.
After a slow start, the final table action gathered momentum as the short-stacks were subjected to mounting pressure. Ted Forrest was the first one to put his tournament life on the line, with J,10o from the SB. Noah Schwartz called him on 3,3 and the board bricked out to send Forrest home in 9th, in possession of a $230,317 prize.
Still under pressure despite the more than welcome double-up, Schwartz was all-in again a few hands later, this time on A,K against Greg Raymer’s pocket rockets. The odds stacked against him, Schwartz finally succumbed, leaving the final table in 8th with $246,834 in his pocket.
Greg Raymer kept up the pressure at the final table sending Lex Veldhuis to the rail next.
Alec Torelli ran his Ah,2h into Isaac Haxton’s A,10o next to head to the rail in 6th place. Hot off Torelli’s elimination, Haxton used the momentum to take Justin Bonomo out next. In a classic J,J a A,A match-up, the board gave Haxton a third ace on the river to seal Bonomo’s fate for good.
Once on a roll, Haxton found it difficult to stop, and he took out Dan Stern too for good measure. His A,K blew Stern’s Q,10 to pieces on a board which gave both players a set of 2s letting Haxton’s A kicker decide the fate of the pot.
Only a few hands later, Greg Raymer decided it was time for him to double up or go. He shoved all-in on his pocket 5s and got called by Haxton with pocket 9s. The board didn’t change anything and the Main Event Champ was out in 3rd place.
Thanks to his phenomenal final table run, Haxton enjoyed a 2-1 chip advantage going into heads-up with Lunkin. The two traded double ups a few times and like two heavy-weight boxers circled each-other seeking to land the one blow that would decide everything. That blow was a truly devastating one and it came from Lunkin who got Haxton all-in on an A,A vs 3,8o match-up.
Successfully fading Haxton’s flush outs, Lunkin connected and the 4-day event was over.
