The 2009 WSOP year in review

2009 W.S.O.P in Review

July 8th, 2009

The 56 preliminary events to the 2009 World Series of Poker have concluded and boy what a year it has been. This series has had the type of storylines that one would expect a 40th Anniversary edition to have. Let’s take a look at some of the poker stories of the 2009 WSOP.

It all started with the $40,000 buy-in NL Holdem event setup to commemorate the 40th WSOP. 201 players turned out to take their shot at over $1.8 Million in prize money. The final table boasted the big names of Ted Forrest, Alec Torelli, Justin Bonomo, Greg Raymer, Vitaly Lunkin, and Isaac Haxton. Lunkin broke through in 2008 to win his first bracelet and this year, he picked up where he left off. After fending off a serious challenge from Greg Raymer, Lunkin went on to win the $40,000 NL Event and his 2nd bracelet.

Thang Luu made history in the very next event when he won the $1,500 Omaha 8-or-better event, besting a world record 918 players. Luu won the 2008 $1,500 Omaha 8-or-better event and also managed to finish 2nd in the 2007 edition of the same event. His three year run in this event is considered one of the greatest accomplishments in WSOP history. Sadly, it did not get the press it deserved due to it being an Omaha 8-or-better event.

The big story of the 2009 WSOP was that four players won multiple bracelets. Brock Parker was the first player to win multiple bracelets at the 2009 WSOP. He took his first bracelet in Event #14 after making a remarkable comeback against Daniel Negreanu heads-up to win the Six-handed Limit Holdem Event. Less than a week later, he took down Event 19, a Six-handed NL Holdem Event. Again, he made a nice comeback heads-up to defeat Joseph Serock for the braclet.

Parker’s story, while great, was quickly overshadowed by a superstar pro winning two bracelets, and uncounted Millions in prop bets. Phil Ivey flat outplayed the final table in the $2,500 NL 2-7 Lowball event to win his 6th WSOP bracelet. John Monette put up a strong challenge, but fell in the end to Ivey. Nine days later, Ivey started the final table of the $2,500 ½ Omaha 8 ½ Stud 8 as one of the short stacks. In just two hands, he took the chip lead and never really looked back. Eventually, he took out Ming Lee in 2nd to win his 7th WSOP bracelet.

Now, Ivey’s story in most years would be THE story. However, this year, a player was able to actually outtrump Ivey by completing the “Stud Triple Crown” and winning three bracelets in a year. Jeff Lisandro won the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event, the same event he won in 2007, to win his 2nd career bracelet. A couple of weeks later, Lisandro took down the $10,000 Stud 8-or-Better World Championship after a strong battle heads-up with Farzad Rouhani. Four days later, Lisandro completed the Stud Triple Crown by taking down the $2,500 Razz event for his third bracelet of the 2009 WSOP.

Greg Mueller had several strong WSOP finishes, including two runner-up finishes, but never took his first bracelet until this year. He won his first bracelet in the $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship after outlasting a strong final table that included Matt Glantz, Chad Brown, Matt Hawrilenko, and Daniel Alaei. He then took down the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout after surviving a heads-up match with Marc Naalden. Naalden won the $2,000 Limit Holdem Event earlier in the WSOP.

Four multi-bracelet winners were not the only big stories of the WSOP. Several World Championship Events went down, and many to top pros. The $10,000 Stud World Championship proved that sometimes experience is better than youth in poker. 74 years young Freddie Ellis took down the event after surviving a final table that included Greg Mueller, Max Pescatori, Ville Wahlbeck, and Eric Drache. Jeff Lisandro finished 9th in the event.

Ville Wahlbeck took down the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event. The final table included David Chiu, Huck Seed, Mark Gregorich, James Van Alstyne, and Todd Brunson. Daniel Alaei took down the $10,000 Omaha 8-or-better World Championship. The final table included Scott Clements, Daniel Negreanu, Greg Jamison, and Annie Duke. Alaei knocked out Scott Clements heads-up for his 2nd career bracelet.

Nick Shulman got the bracelet monkey off his back in winning the $10,000 NL 2-7 Lowball event. He defeated Ville Wahlbeck heads-up at a table that included Steve Sung, John Juanda, Vince Musso, and legendary gambler Archie Karas. Leo Wolpert won the $10,000 Heads-up World Championship. The best of three matchup with John Duthie made its way to three matches before Wolpert walked away the champion.

Matt Graham made yet another come from behind charge to take down the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship. Vitaly Lunkin was going for his 2nd bracelet of the WSOP, but Graham made a comeback similar to his 2008 bracelet win to take his 2nd career bracelet. John Kabbaj won the $10,000 PL Holdem World Championship after defeating Kirill Gerasimov heads-up. His final table included J.C. Alvarado, Jason Lester, and Isaac Haxton.

The $50,000 H.O.R.S.E World Championship took a bit of a dip in numbers this year with 95 players turning out to take a shot at over $1.2 Million. Gus Hansen led for a good portion of the event, but finished as the final table bubble boy in 9th. The final table was Erik Seidel, Chau Giang, Ville Wahlbeck, Huck Seed, Vitaly Lunkin, Erik Sangstrom, John Hanson, and David Bach. The heads-up match set a new all-time WSOP record for hands played during heads-up and lasted until 10 a.m. in the morning. Play went back and forth until the limits left each player with 12 big bets or less. At that point, David Bach caught a couple of hands to cripple John Hanson and take the title.

The 40th Annual World Series of Poker is considered a huge success by all involved. The Main Event is currently underway with many big names in contention, including Phil Ivey, Greg Mueller, Jeff Lisandro, and Vitaly Lunkin. Will there be another repeat winner? Will Jeff Lisandro make history with his 4th bracelet win of the 2009 WSOP? Will yet another unknown rise from the field and take poker’s top prize? Stay tuned to the World Series of Poker to find out the answers.