This Week in Poker: June 27 – July 3

Check out CardPlayer.com every Friday for a weekly wrap-up of the news from the live poker tournament trail.

Card Player Player of the Year Update

1: Vitaly Lunkin — 4,337
2: Eric Baldwin — 4,060
3: Angel Guillen — 3,492
4: Cornel Cimpan — 3,450
5: Brock Parker — 3,132
6: Jeffrey Lisandro — 3,018
7: Poorya Nazari — 3,000
8: Jude Ainsworth — 2,840
9: Jon Turner — 2,788
10: James Van Alstyne — 2,756

POY Movement:

Vitaly Lunkin Takes the Lead Back

There was little movement in the top 10 in the Card Player Player of the Year race this past week, with one very notable exception. Vitaly Lunkin moved back into the top spot on the leader board when he finished in fourth place in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. world championship at the World Series of Poker and took home 360 points. This gives him a total of 4,337 point for the year. He now leads Eric Baldwin by 277 points.

Lunkin took home $368,813 for his H.O.R.S.E. final-table appearance, which gives him $2,696,306 in winnings at the 2009 WSOP. Lunkin has now won $3,140,037 in prize money playing tournament poker in 2009, more than any other players on the planet.

This Week in Poker

World Series of Poker

$50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship – David Bach Wins the Fourth Annual “Player’s Championship”

David Bach had made a final table at the World Series of Poker in each of the four years leading up to 2009, but he had no gold bracelet to show for his strong results. That all changed the morning of July 1, when Bach won the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. world championship and the most coveted gold bracelet among poker professionals. “I never wanted to touch one until I earned it,” said Bach, as he put on his golden prize and grinned from ear to ear.

Bach emerged from a field of 95 players, the toughest collection of players pound-for-pound in the history of tournament poker, to claim the first-place prize money worth $1,276,802, along with his bracelet. Bach will also have his name placed on the Chip Reese memorial trophy, along with the former champions of this event, including Reese, Freddy Deeb, and Scott Nguyen. Bach now holds $2,407,727 in lifetime earnings after booking the largest win of his career.

The win wasn’t an easy one for Bach. He head to overcome John Hanson in a heads-up match that lasted seven hours and saw six lead changes before Bach was crowned champion. The entirety of the final table ran 18 hours and 44 minutes in length and it took 480 hands to decide. The 2009 H.O.R.S.E. world championship is the second longest WSOP final table in history, the 484 hands that took place during 19 hours and 9 minutes at the 2008 WSOP Europe main event holds the top spot.

Hanson scored $789,199 for his runner-up finish, and his results are now the greatest in terms of $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. consistency. He also finished in third place in 2007. Hanson joined the short list of players that have made two final-table appearances during the first four years of the H.O.R.S.E. world championship:

John Hanson (2007 — third place, 2009 — second place)
Huck Seed (2008 — eighth place, 2009 — fifth place)
Barry Greenstein (2007 — seventh place, 2008 — sixth place)
David Singer (2006 — sixth place, 2007 — sixth place)

Here are the final results:

1. David Bach – $1,276,802
2. John Hanson – $789,199
3. Erik Sagstrom – $522,394
4. Vitaly Lunkin – $368,813
5. Huck Seed – $276,610
6. Ville Wahlbeck – $219,655
7. Chau Giang – $184,087
8. Erik Seidel – $162,382

Collected WSOP Final-Table Recaps

Event No. 47 – Bahador Ahmadi Winner Story
Event No. 48 – Brandon Cantu Winner Story
Event No. 50 – Greg Mueller Winner Story
Event No. 51 – Carsten Joh Winner Story
Event No. 52 – Jorg Peisert Winner Story
Event No. 53 – David Halpern Winner Story
Event No. 54 – Tony Veckey Winner Story
Event No. 55 – Abe Mosseri Winner Story
Event No. 56 – Matt Hawrilenko Winner Story
Ante Up for Africa – Alex Bolotin Winner Story

Looking Ahead

40th Annual World Series of Poker

Main Event Schedule

Friday, July 3: Day 1A
Saturday, July 4: Day 1B
Sunday, July 5: Day 1C
Monday, July 6: Day 1D
Tuesday, July 7: Day 2A
Wednesday, July 8: Day 2B
Thursday, July 9: Off Day
Friday, July 10: Day 3
Saturday, July 11: Day 4
Sunday, July 12: Day 5
Monday, July 13: Day 6
Tuesday, July 14: Day 7 (Play down to 27 players)
Wednesday, July 15: Day 8 (Play down to the final table)

Bellagio Cup V

Event Schedule

Binion’s Poker Classic

Event Schedule

Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III

Event Schedule

Caesars Mega Stack Series

Event Schedule

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