Vitaly Lunkin, a relatively anonymous Russian player, is the winner of event #2 of the 2009 annual WSOP, better known as the Special 40th Annual $40,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament. This victory gained Vitaly with some $1,891,012 and, of course, a Golden Bracelet, his second ever.
The $40,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament is a special event, held this year for the first time, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the WSOP. The tournament attracted many of the leading players in the poker world. Leading names like Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer, Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, and Peter Eastgate, all posted the large buy-in, in pursuit of a share of the total prize pool of around $7.7 million dollars. The tournament hosted some 200 competitors and lasted for full 4 days, peaking in a two hours dramatic heads up match between winner, Vitaly Lunkin and runner up Isaac Haxton. Haxton, who was as close as you can get to win this event, settled for a prize of $1,168,566.
Other finalists in this event include: Greg raymer, Dani Stern, Justin Bonomo, Alec Torelli, Alex Veldhuis, Noah Schwartz and Ted Forrest.
