WSOP Event #40: A Race Between Matt Graham And Vitaly Lunkin

The final play day of the $10,000 PLO event was ready to whittle the remaining 25 players down to just one who would be crowned the champion. Howard Lederer, Vitaly Lunkin, Nenad Medic, Barry Greenstein, Chau Giang, Noah Schwartz and others were all ready to continue from where they stopped at the end of Day 2.

It wasn't long before the first players began to fall, including the remaining pros and while some of them like Medic and Lederer were seen packing their bags, others were happily adding chips to their stacks. Barry Greenstein was willing to gamble and it was working out for him.

Greenstein led out for 35,000 on a flop of , Schwartz fired an additional 95,000 and the action folded around to Greenstein who announced he was all-in. Schwartz took another look at his cards and made the call. Greenstein turned over for the nut flush draw and Schwartz showed for two pair which had to hold up if Schwartz wanted to take down the pot. The turn brought and Greenstein took the lead with his set of sevens. The river came and Greenstein doubled up to 1.15 million in chips and Schwartz fell down to just 150,000.

Streets of PLO are dangerous ones indeed, they can rob you of your chips at any moment and Noah Schwartz was the one who felt it the most - once a chip leader with over 1 million in chips, now his stack was crumbled to bits and pieces. He couldn't recover from this blow and left the tournament in 15th place for which he earned $46,226.

The remaining players didn't have to wait long before the final table was set, as Nathan Doudney was seen making his exit in 10th place, thus leaving nine players to take their seats at the official final table. Matt Graham had the largest stack at the table with 1.4 million in chips and there wasn't an actual short stack present, since Van Marcus had a stack of 500,000, which wasn't all too bad.

Barry Greenstein (pictured left) was the first victim of the final table. Vitaly Lunkin raised to 120,000, Barry Greenstein called and so did Josh Arieh. The flop came and the action checked to Lunkin who bet 200,000. Greenstein check-raised to 800,000, Arieh folded and Lunkin thought for a while what to do and decided to move all-in. Greenstein quickly called and showed while Lunkin turned over . The turn brought and with the on the river, Greenstein was out in 9th place.

Lunkin continued to bust players with Richard Austin being the next player to hit the rail. Lunkin was the aggressor again, making a raise to 120,000 and Austin called. The flop came . Austin bet 120,000 and Lunkin bet enough to put Austin all-in. Austin called and revealed while Lunkin held . The turn came and the river brought to give Austin a straight but Lunkin caught the nuts to send Austin to the rail in 8th place.

Josh Arieh dodged the bullet in the hand in which Greenstein was busted, but his last minutes at the final table came in a hand against Ferit Gabriellson. Arieh moved all-in with and Gabriellson called with . The board came , thus giving quads to Gabriellson and Arieh was no longer in the race for the title.

Vitaly Lunkin continued taking other people's chips - sharing is not his policy. Lunkin made a raise to 210,000, Stefan Mattsson repotted, Lunkin re-raised enough to put Mattsson all-in and a call came from Mattsson's corner. Lunkin showed while Mattsson held . The board came and with all the missed flush draws on the board, Lunkin's aces were good enough to scoop the pot, thus getting him close to 4 million in chips.

Source: IMPDI for 2009 WSOP

Ferit Gabriellson met his end in a hand against Matt Graham. The treacherous streets of PLO proved lethal once again, as the river turned the whole situation around. Gabriellson was looking good with against Graham's on the flop of , but then the case spiked on the turn to give Graham a set and with a meaningless on the river, Gabriellson was busted in 5th place.

Graham busted another player, namely Robin Keston, which narrowed the final table to just three players. From that point onwards, it took quite a while before the heads-up play was finally reached. It was again Matt Graham taking over the role of the executioner.

Graham raised to 200,000, Van Marcus re-raised pot and Graham instatly fired back enough to put Marcus all-in. Marcus called and showed and Graham revealed . The board came and with Marcus out of the way, everything was ready for the heads-up play.

Matt Graham had 4,500,000 in chips while Vitaly Lunkin had 4,350,000. A pretty even beginning of the heads-up match. The chip lead was exchanged several times and it wasn't clear until the very end, who of the two would walk away with the title. Finally, it was a hand in which both players limped in that determined the winner of the Event #40.

On a flop of , Graham check-raised pot after Lunkin bet 120,000, thus making it 480,000 more to go. Lunkin called and the action moved to the turn card . Graham bet 1.1 million, Lunkin moved all-in and Graham called. Lunkin showed and Graham turned over . The river came and after the chips were counted, it was confirmed that Lunkin had less chips than Graham and had to admit defeat. Lunkin went over to Graham to shake his hand and congratulate him on his victory, though Lunkin's 2nd place was worthy of no less admiration.

World Series Of Poker Event #40 Results
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Matt Graham	$679,379
2nd	Vitaly Lunkin	$419,832
3rd	Van Marcus	$278,409
4th	Robin Keston	$196,994
5th	Ferit Gabriellson	$148,439
6th	Stefan Mattsson	$118,463
7th	Josh Arieh	$99,856
8th	Richard Austin	$88,681
9th	Barry Greenstein	$82,746