World Series of Poker 40th Anniversary Kicks Off With $40,000 Buy-In Event

It was a difficult decision for some tournament-circuit regulars: to play or not to play? On one hand, the $40,000 buy-in 40th-anniversary tournament kicked off the World Series of Poker and was considered to be one of the most prestigious events of the year. On the other, no one wants to start a summer campaign at the Series that far in the red.

Many speculated on the final entrant count, but tournament officials were satisfied with the 201-player field and a $7,718,400 prize pool that rivaled the recent World Poker Tour Championship. Needless to say, the field was absolutely stacked with the world’s best players, at one point featuring a table that included the likes of Phil Hellmuth, Scotty Nguyen, Phil Ivey, David “The Dragon” Pham, and Bertrand Grospellier, among others.

With the game’s greatest on hand, it was budding Russian superstar Vitaly Lunkin, clearly a dark horse by all accounts, who came out on top. Despite being somewhat unknown to the casual poker fan, the 38-year-old semiprofessional has already put together quite the list of accomplishments, having won his first gold bracelet in 2008 and a Russian Poker Tour event in Moscow earlier this year.

Do You Have Somewhere That You Need to Be?

Despite the starting chip stacks of 120,000 and hour-long levels, the players had no problem finding excuses to get their chips in; in the course of just 10 hours, they managed to whittle themselves down to a field of 89.

Notables hitting the rail in the early going included Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Jonathan Little, John Juanda, and Tom Dwan.

A Big Payday to Start the Summer

Those who survived day one continued to battle, hoping to emerge as one of the final 27 to guarantee themselves at least $71,858. Unfortunately, someone had to walk away with the honorary title of “Bubble Boy.” That person was Neil Chriss, who got it in with the best hand, only to lose out when Alec Torelli hit his open-end straight draw.

Chriss took the beat well, but was forced to experience one of the largest bubbles in poker and a six-figure swing to his bankroll. With just six more hands remaining in the day, the action picked up considerably, and four of poker’s elite were sent to the rail in rapid succession. Cashing for the minimum were Vanessa Rousso (27th), J.C. Tran (26th), Sorel Mizzi (25th), and David Pham (24th).

The March Toward the Final Table

Although ESPN missed out on some big names who were eliminated the night before, there were still plenty of recognizable faces left in the field. The short stacks were quickly dispatched, and along the way, Andrew Robl (23rd), David Chiu (21st), Andy Black (19th), and Matthew Glantz (18th) were eliminated.

Throughout it all, Justin Bonomo had maintained his chip lead, but a huge pot went to Torelli when Brian Townsend was eliminated in 13th place. Townsend committed his remaining stack with two rags, only to see Torelli and Noah Schwartz wake up behind him with real hands. In the end, Torelli’s pocket tens made quads against Schwartz’s pocket queens, and Torelli momentarily held the lead.

He eventually gave up that lead to Isaac Haxton, when his top pair of queens ran into Haxton’s set of sixes. After Tony G went out in 10th place, Haxton was the chip leader, with twice as much as most of the table.

Lights, Camera, Action!

As the final nine got set for the high-definition ESPN taping, the stands were already packed to the brim with fans ready to watch established stars like Greg Raymer and Ted Forrest, or young guns like Haxton and Bonomo, but a small, rowdy group of Lunkin supporters hunkered down, ready to root their fellow Russian on to victory.

Forrest was going after his sixth gold bracelet, but his bid fell short early on after losing a race to Schwartz. In that hand, Forrest called from the small blind and Schwartz raised enough to put his opponent all in. Forrest called, tabling the J 10, and Schwartz’s 3 3 held up.

Despite chipping up in the process, Schwartz too was eliminated shortly afterward. He had moved all in from early position with the A K, and Raymer reraised to isolate with his dominating, and winning, A A.

Raymer continued to climb the leader board, eventually doubling through Haxton to take over the top spot, and then busting Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis in seventh place to extend his lead. Veldhuis made a move with the A 7, only to see Raymer wake up with pocket kings. Veldhuis reraised Raymer’s 200,000 open-raise from the cutoff for his remaining 1,265,000 from the small blind.

Despite giving most of his stack to Raymer, Haxton got healthy once again after picking off Torelli’s short-stack shove from the cutoff with the A 2. Haxton called from the button with the A 10, the board offered no help to Torelli, and Haxton was once again back in the thick of things.

Incredibly, Lunkin had yet to be involved in a big showdown or, for the most part, even reveal his cards. Quietly, he had stolen away the chip lead without ever putting too much of his stack at risk, allowing the other players to take each other out while he sat back and continued to chip up.

Haxton mounted his comeback after he slow-played his pocket aces preflop, busting Bonomo. Bonomo raised to 250,000 from under the gun with pocket jacks, and Haxton made the call from the small blind. Raymer also called, from the big blind, and the flop was dealt 10 9 3. Haxton bet 300,000, Raymer folded, and Bonomo moved all in for 2,775,000. Haxton made the call, and the 2 on the turn and A on the river sent the 23-year-old Bonomo, who previously had a runner-up finish in a WSOP event, home with his largest score to date, $413,166.

Haxton continued to get stronger after crippling and then eliminating Dani “Ansky” Stern in fourth place. Amazingly, when three-handed play began, all three players were in a virtual tie with roughly 8 million in chips apiece.

With all three players tied, the next bust-out was very noteworthy. Raymer raised to 400,000 from the button, and Haxton reraised to 1,250,000. Raymer then moved all in for 8,105,000, and Haxton made the call, showing pocket nines. Pocket fives had been good to Raymer during his 2004 main-event run, and he tried to rekindle some of that magic by calling out, “Presto!” Unfortunately for the fossil man, the board failed to produce a 5 and he exited in third place, earning $774,927.

Heads Up for All the Marbles

This gave Haxton more than a 2-1 lead on Lunkin, who was still sitting there with his stack of 8 million. That would soon change, however, as a big pot went Lunkin’s way after he rivered a straight. A big all-in move later, and he had firmly taken the advantage away and ground Haxton down a significant amount.

Lunkin continued to press, until he decided to slow-play pocket aces, and he got Haxton to commit the rest of his chips with the K 10 on a king-high flop. Haxton was just one card away from elimination, but spiked a 10 on the river to reclaim the chip lead.

It was short-lived, however, as Lunkin took the lead for good after rivering a club flush. On the final hand, Lunkin once again decided to slow-play his pocket aces.

Lunkin limped from the button, and Haxton raised 600,000 more. Lunkin made the call, and the flop came down Q 10 8. Haxton bet 1.2 million, and Lunkin put him all in. Haxton called, and showed the 8 3 for bottom pair and a flush draw, while Lunkin revealed the A A. The turn and river came safely for Lunkin in the form of the 7 and the K, and Haxton was eliminated in second place, which was good for $1,168,566.

Haxton was lost in thought in the aftermath, and explained himself by saying, “I’m disappointed I didn’t win heads up, because I consider myself one of the best heads-up players in the world. I’ve just won a million dollars, though, so really, how bad can I feel?”

When the river safely hit the table, the Russian contingent exploded into celebration, waving their flag and chanting for their hero. Lunkin made his first bounty at the final table his last, winning his second career bracelet and banking $1,891,012.

The unlikely winner was humble in victory and didn’t want to associate his success with the likes of fellow countrymen Ivan Demidov, Stanislav Alekhin, Nikolay Evdakov, or Alexander Kravchenko. “There is no Russian secret,” he said. “Just do one thing. Play good.”

Good was an understatement.