Vitaly Lunkin captures $40k title: Thang Luu goes back to back in O8

It’s been quite a start to this year’s WSOP.

$40k Tournament

Another big tournament means another win for a Russian player. This time it was Vitaly Lunkin taking home nearly $1.9 million and the honor that goes with winning the largest buy-in Hold’ Em tournament in WSOP history.

Lunkin outlasted a stacked final table that included Ted Forrest (considered one of the top players in th world), former Main Event Champ Greg Raymer, Recent circuit event winner Justin Bonomo, and up and coming players Lex Veldhuis, Noah Schawrtz, Isaac Haxton, Dani Stern, and Alex Torelli.

After a very back-and-forth battle that lasted over 50 hands Lunkin was finally able to dispatch Isaac Haxton to capture the title. The win is Lunkin’s second WSOP bracelet, and securely places him among one of the top players in the game today.

Omaha 8 Tournament

At the same time as Lunkin’s huge win, Thang Luu made WSOP history by capturing the Omaha 8 title for the second straight year! Even more incredible, Luu finished 2^nd in this event in 2007!!!

Obviously Thang Luu knows something about Omaha 8 tournaments the rest of us have yet to figure out. Finishing 2^nd, 1^st, and 1^st in mega field tournaments is one of the most eye-popping achievements I have ever seen.

$1k Stimulus Tournament

With over 6,000 entrants the $1k stimulus tournament looked more like an online freeroll than a WSOP event. The field constituted the largest non-Main Event tournament in WSOP history, and after 2 days of play there are still around 767 runners vying for the title.

Among the remaining players; the ever dangerous JC Tran is among the chip leaders heading into today’s action.

Champions Invitational

Today’s final update is on the 20 person former champion’s invitational event. This event was a great idea: invite 20 former Main Event Champions to battle it out in a freeroll tournament. And, it’s the old winners who are getting the best of the recent winners: Carlos Mortenson, Tom McEvoy, and Jim Bechtel stand atop the leaderboard, while Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem, Jamie Gold, and Jerry Yang are among the 10 eliminated players.

In fact, of the last 6 champions only last year’s champ, Peter Eastgate, is still alive. The final 10 players will return today to battle it out for the Binion cup and a 1970 Corvette.