2009 World Series of Poker - Event #2 - 40th Annual No Limit Hold'Em
14th place after meeting the quad 5"s held by Vitaly Lunkin from Russia. It finally whittled down to having Tony G leaving in 10th place after losing to the paired 10"s of Vitaly Lunkin. Also, to give credit where credit is due, Greg Raymer received pocket A"s three times and pocket Q"s once, had them all cracked and still ended up with 3,345,000 chips for the final table. We will see who becomes champion.Day 4 will have the final table filmed by ESPN, so keep that in mind as this event should not be missed. Action started at 3:00 pm, continuing at level 25 with blinds at $40,000/$80,000 and an ante of $10,000. First to leave in 9th place was Ted Forrest as his hand was beaten by the pocket 3"s of Noah Schwartz. Soon after, Noah was busted in 8th courtesy of the pocket A"s that belonged to Greg Raymer. The magic came back to Raymer as he doubled up through Issac Haxton ending with a stack of over 5.5 million chips. Most of the play for the first two hours did not see a flop, so boldness and good cards generally got the blinds and antes. But eventually action did come back as Lex Veldhuis finished in 7th, losing to Greg Raymer who held pocket K"s. In 6th place was Alec Torelli, beaten by the 10 kicker of Issac Haxton. Then it became Justin Bonomo"s turn to say goodbye as his all-in move with pocket J"s was met by the pocket A"s of Haxton. Haxton then received another Ace on the river for a set, sending Bonomo to the rail in 5th. Dani Stern picked up the cash for a 4th place finish after losing to the Ace high hand of Issac Haxton. Next one out was Greg Raymer in 3rd who received a standing ovation from the crowd for his performance. What happened is after a number of raises and re-raises from both Haxton and Raymer, Raymer moved all-in with 8,105,000 and was called by Haxton who barely had him covered. Raymer produced pocket 5"s, but Haxton produced pocket 9"s which ended up giving Haxton the higher two pair by the river (9"s and 3"s) and the win.At the beginning of the heads up Haxton had 16,495,000 chips verses Vitaly Lunkin with 7,520,000. Action continued at level 29 with blinds at $90,000/$180,000 with a $20,000 ante. Lunkin then proceeded to win 3 million with a 10 high straight, then another 3 million a few minutes later. Over time with the precision of a surgeon, Lunkin took huge portions of Haxton"s stack. Then the winning hand takes place. After a flop of Qd 10d 8d, Lunkin went all-in and Haxton called with 5,635,000 in his stack. Lunkin turned over pocket A"s and Haxton showed 3d 8c. Turn card was a 7c and the river a Ks, giving an incredible victory to Vitaly Lunkin! His friends ran from the stands and wrapped him in a Russian flag to celebrate. Congratulations to Vitaly Lunkin.