Matthew 'mattg1983' Graham win second bracelet in WSOP Event#40

News / Matthew Pitt / 24 June 2009 / Leave a comment

When 295 players paid the $10,000 entry fee to take part in Event#40, the World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha Event they were informed 27 of them would make the money and earn at least $25,817 but each and every one of them had at least one eye on the $679,379 first place prize and the coveted WSOP bracelet that comes with the title.

By the end of Day 1 the field had been more than halved but some of the biggest stars of poker were still present. Players such as Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen were all part of the 116 strong party that would return to the Rio for Day 2.

Big names exit on Day 2

By the time play had come to an end on Day 2, there were just 25 players still in with a shout of claiming the title of Pot-limit Omaha World Champion but as would be expected with such a high entry fee, there were still some household names left in. Barry Greinstein would have been most people's favourite to win, either him or Howard Lederer but there was a certain Matthew 'mattg1983' Graham bagging up 586,000 chips at the end of the day who had other plans.

Play restarted at 1300 Las Vegas time and within the first hour there were six casualties leading people to think the champion would be crowned earlier than expected. Unfortunately for the railbirds this was not to be the case and it took a further four hours for another nine players to exit, the last of those nine being Chau Giang who finished in 11th allowing for a re-draw for the final table.

Nathan Doudney was the first to lose all of his chips and become the official final table bubble boy when he was all-in on the flop of Jh2h6c against Josh Arieh. His KdKsAc4d may have been ahead of Arieh's Th9hQs7d but the Ah on the turn completed Arieh's flush and meant the 7s on the river was meaningless.

Barry Greenstein heads for the rail

Two hours of solid grinding followed without a single player heading for the rail but ironically it was the first hand back from a break that the final table lost another player. Crowd favourite Barry Greenstein's flush and wrap draw somehow failed to hit against the $40,000 Anniversary tournament winner Vitaly Lunkin's Aces.

The winner of the $5,000 Pot-limit Omaha Champion, Richard Austin, making back-to-back final tables was next to go when he made a straight by the river but that man Lunkin filled his flush at the same time.

Two more hours passed before a flurry of activity saw four players bust out within thirty minutes. Stefan Mattson became another of Lunkin's victims and he was followed a few minutes later by Ferit Gabriellson in fifth position. Robert Keston, who finished 7th in the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event was the next to lose all of his chips and when Graham's Aces prevailed against the Jacks of Van Marcus, another back-to-back final table maker, play had finally reached heads-up.

USA vs Russia Heads-up battle

Matters could not have been much closer as Matthew Graham had 4,500,000 in chips whilst his Russian opponent, Vitaly Lunkin held 4,350,000.The pair fought it out for two hours with Lunkin taking a 6,450,000 to 2,400,000 lead at one point but the cards ultimately started to fall Graham's way.

The final hand saw the players all-in on a board reading 6d4hTd9s with Graham holding top set with his TcTh6c5s but needing to avoid a diamond on the river as Lunkin's hand was KdJs9d2d. The river was the As and after a brief pause for a chip count Matt 'mattg1983' Graham was crowned the $10,000 Pot-limit Omaha World Champion.

This was the second bracelet Graham has one with him claiming one after winning the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout at last year's World Series of Poker. With him not even touching 30-years of age yet, it is hard to tell just how many bracelets this young gun could end up winning during his career.