WSOP Cash and Ring(credit:
larrykang)
The showpiece $50K H.O.R.S.E tournament nears its conclusion with Ukrainian Vitaly Lunkin in pole position to secure a second, highroller event triumph.
Following victory in the $40K NL Hold’em event, Vitaly Lunkin heads the field going into day four, with charismatic Dane Gus Hansen and 2007 winner Freddy Deeb hot on his heels. 19 players will return to the green felt to battle it out for one of the most coveted WSOP bracelets.
With its hefty buy-in and encompassing of all poker variants, the $50K H.O.R.S.E guarantees a stellar field. However, this year the event got off to a lacklustre start, with a mere 95 entrants compared to 148 last year. Daniel Negreanu cites the absence of television coverage, not the worrying global economic climate, as the reason for its decline in popularity in his FullContactPoker blog.
With no major networks such as ESPN screening play, there’s little incentive for poker rooms to sponsor their players, as there will be no brand advertising. Somewhat controversially, Negreanu has proposed making the final table purely NL, so as to hook the casual player and convince television networks to provide coverage. Many argue this is detrimental towards the integrity of the event, which prides itself in adopting a multi-variant format throughout, allowing players to play to their strengths.
Nevertheless, a lot of big name pros including the high stakes Full Tilt contingent took to the tables. The remaining 19 players include candidate for WSOP player of the year Ville Wahlbeck, eight times bracelet winner Erik Siedel, NBC Poker Heads-up Championship winner Huck Seed and the temperamental ‘Tony G’. It’s Vitaly Lunkin who is top jockey however, as he sits proudly on 1,527,000 chips.