On perhaps the largest money bubble in poker, just 19 players remain in the 2009 WSOP H.O.R.S.E. world championship event. Only 16 will get paid, guaranteed at least a $72,914 payout and a shot at the grand prize of $1,276,802. Those unfortunate three players who fall short … well, they’ll have to settle for a reassuring hug from loved ones.
After three days of play, the leader is none other than two-time bracelet winner Vitaly Lunkin. The Russian already owns the title to the $40,000 no-limit hold’em event and finished second in the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha championship. A win here would put Lunkin back in the running for WSOP player of the year honors, a title all but given to Jeffrey Lisandro, who won three bracelets in 2009 out of his four final-table appearances.
Lunkin isn’t the only POY candidate remaining in the field. Sitting in fifth place overall is Ville Wahlbeck. The Finnish poker pro already has five WSOP cashes, including a first, second, and third in various $10,000 championship events. Incredibly, Wahlbeck is still planning on retiring from poker at the end of the Series, regardless of how he finishes off the summer.
Also in the hunt is 2007 champion Freddy Deeb. Deeb had a great day, taking out Matt Hawrilenko, Erick Lindgren, and Justin Smith as he rocketed up the leader board. Deeb finished the day in third place overall.
The 2008 champion, however, is no longer a factor. Scotty Nguyen spent most of day two creating makeshift basketballs out of beer-soaked paper napkins, but he could not afford to mess around on day three, quickly falling to the back of the pack. Nguyen’s tournament eventually came to an end when he committed the last of his stack in a hand of Omaha eight-or-better. The board double paired, negating Nguyen’s low draw, and Frank Kassela’s pair of queens sent the poker prince packing. Always a crowd favorite, Nguyen stopped and signed numerous autographs before heading for the parking lot.
Other notables to bust during the day included Patrik Antonius, Jon Turner, Scott Clements, Hasan Habib, Bill Chen, John Hennigan, Chris Ferguson, David Benyamine, Phil Ivey, and Doyle Brunson, just to name a few.
The remaining field will return on Monday at 2 p.m. to play past the money to the final table of eight. You can follow all of the action with Card Player’s live updates.
Here are the official chip counts:
| 1 | Vitaly Lunkin | 1,527,000 |
| 2 | Erik Sagstrom | 1,315,000 |
| 3 | Freddy Deeb | 1,300,000 |
| 4 | David Bach | 1,265,000 |
| 5 | Ville Wahlbeck | 842,000 |
| 6 | John Hanson | 815,000 |
| 7 | Gus Hansen | 801,000 |
| 8 | Mike Wattel | 779,000 |
| 9 | John Kabbaj | 678,000 |
| 10 | Huck Seed | 672,000 |
| 11 | Brett Richey | 671,000 |
| 12 | Tony G | 650,000 |
| 13 | Chau Giang | 616,000 |
| 14 | Steve Billirakis | 576,000 |
| 15 | Frank Kassela | 499,000 |
| 16 | Erik Seidel | 464,000 |
| 17 | David Chiu | 397,000 |
| 18 | Ray Dehkharghani | 262,000 |
| 19 | Todd Brunson | 145,000 |
