Vitaly Lunkin has taken the bracelet and the $628,417 first place prize that comes with it.

Lunkin outclassed Brett Kimes heads up and made a wonderful check on the flop of the final hand of the heads up match to take it down.

It started with Kimes limping, then calling a $600k pre flop bet from Vitaly. The flop came down J 4 2 and both players checked it down.

The turn came the 8. Lunkin bet $1 million, Kimes shoved and Lunkin called having him covered. It was A J for the Russian against Kimes' 8 10 and Kimes needed close to a miracle to survive. The K river wasn't it and while Kimes takes $387,837 for secondLunkin takes the win.

Check out our exlusive interview with the man over here in a little while.

We are now heads up and close to crowning a champion thanks to Bobby Firestone's exit in third place. The big money is on the line and PL.com is stoked to see it play out.

Fired! (3rd)

Bobby Firestone was eliminated in third place and will cash $277,026. He got it in on flp with top pair against Vitaly Lunkin's straight draw, but the river completed the draw and Firestone was railed.

Heading into heads up Brett Kimes had a big chip lead, but he just about lost it calling Vitaly's shove on a 5 6 9 flop with just A 6. Vitaly had flopped the nut straight with 7 8 but two diamonds on fourth and fifth street chopped the pot.

Right now Kimes has $4.5 million to Lunkin's $3.6 million.

We are still three handed here but the lead has changed hands. The past hour since outr last break has only brought us a couple of big pots, but they were big enough to make a difference.

Fire It Up!

Bobby Firestone made it $250k from the button and Vitaly Lunkin figured it was a good time to defend. The flop came off 5 4 2 and Firestone fired another stone making it 300 to see the turn. Lunkin made the call and both players checked the 10 turn.

The 5 rolled out on the river and after a Lunkin check, Firestone tossed ion a whopping $700k bet to take it down.

Firestone had the chip lead and was looking to use that muscle to get fitted for the bracelet until a few hands later.

Kimes Coming

Firestone came out raising again making it $ 250,000 from to see a flop, but Brett Kimes re-raised it up to $750,000 total from the small blind.

Lunkin got out of the way before Firestone moved in and Kimes called making this the biggest pot of the event so far.

Firestone was ahead with threes but Kimes A 10 hit the A 7 7 flop hard. The 8 turn didn't help Firestone and the 7 river both filled and doubled up Kime's.

The flip flop on the leader board gives Kimes $4.325 million to Lunkin's $2.1 million and Firestone just $1.695 million.

It's down to three and the players have headed off on a 20-minute break. We will return with the conclusion of the donkament when they do, but for now you can chew a little on the fourth place elimination post. We hope it tastes good

They Killed Kennth (4th)

Kenneth Terrell is out fourth and will cash $232,702 after running smack into Vitaly Lunkin. Lunkin raised and Terrell shipped with A J. Lunkin called with jacks and jacks held on an ace-less board.

Three handed Vitaliy Lunkin has $3,220,000, Bobby Firestone $3,165,000 and Brett Kimes has $1,735,000.

We have just four competitors remaining and at least one has now taken control of the table. Bobby Firestone is on fire and is the first man over the $3 million mark while the others are within striking distance.

Donaldson Done (5th)

Trevor Donaldson just hit the rail in fifth where there was $190,225 waiting to catch his Facing a Brett Kimes under the gun raise he shipped from the button. When it rolled over  to Bobby Firestone in the big blind he reshipped having everyone covered.

Kimes thought better of it and it was Donaldson's A K against Firestone's K K.

The flop brought no miracles and we were down to four.

Here's what the WorldSeriesOfPoker.com has to say about the chip counts:

Bobby Firestone	$3,020,000
Vitaly Lunkin	$2,630,000
Brett Kimes	$1,650,000
Kenneth Terrel	$900,000

 

We're back from the dinner break and this latest installment of the donkament continues to astound.

This time it was Richard Alm who open shoved from the button with A 8 for the $660k sitting in his stack. Bobby Firestone looked him up with two black sevens and was ahead the whole way on the 10 6 4 J K board.

Alm becomes our sixth place finisher earning him a $145,594 payday. We're now down to five and fading fast.

Here's what the WorldSeriesOfPoker.com has to say about the chip counts:

Vitaly Lunkin	$2,480,000
Bobby Firestone	$2,000,000
Brett Kimes	$1,203,000
Kenneth Terrell	$805,000
Trevor Donaldson	$600,000

 

The donkament continues over to the side of the Milwaukee's Best Light No Limit Lounge - here's a look at the latest action.

The Lunkin Express

Vitaly Lunkin’s all-time career winnings before today totaled almost $79,000, almost all from tournaments in Moscow. He’s already guaranteed to make more than that regardless of his finish tonight, evne if he does manage to somehow dust off the $2,000,000 in chips he’s amassed after knocking out Tony Gargano and Philip Yeh.

Brown Sauced! (8th)

Robert Brown had been waiting for an opportunity to get his last $250,000 in chips in the middle, and he chose his spot after Trevor Donaldson had opened to $120,000 in middle position. The action folded back to Donaldson, who called with A Q and had Brown’s Q J thoroughly dominated. The board brought no help, and Brown was eliminated in 8th place for $84,954.

Schultz Shipped! (7th)

Barry Schultz was sitting pretty at about the same time Philip Yeh was, and now he’s met the same fate as Yeh.

Schultz opened for $150,000 in middle position and the action folded to Bobby Firestone in the big blind. Firestone moved all-in for over $1,000,000, and the decision was up to Schultz. He made the call with 4 4, and Firestone turned up a monster A 2.

The J 8 5 flop was no help to Firestone, but the A gave him the lead. Unfortunately for Schultz the J on the river was neither a four or a heart, and he was eliminated in 7th place for a $112,657 take.

I'm Just a Killer for Your Chip Counts

Here's a look at the current standings, courtesy of WorldSeriesOfPoker.com:

Vitaly Lunkin	$2,290,000
Bobby Firestone	$1,775,000
Trevor Donaldson	$1,500,000
Kenneth Terrell	$950,000
Brett Kimes	$885,000
Richard Alm	$575,000

 

We hit a lull in the action once we reached the final ten here in the $1,500 NLHE, but things managed to pick up. Here’s the blow-by-blow.

The Way of Yeh

Philip Yeh had a big chip lead earlier in the day but found himself in second position coming into this ten-handed table. He’s been keeping active, trying to build his stack back up, but things haven’t really gone according to plan.

One spot that was good for Yeh was a position re-raise agaisnt Barry Schultz, the other big stack at the time. Yeh repopped Schultz’s $82,000 preflop raise to $230,000, making Schultz muck his A J.

Not so good for Yeh was a big pot with Bobby Firestone. Firestone raised from the button to $80,000 and Yeh called from the blind. Both players checked the Q 6 9 flop and Yeh fired out $120,000 on the 4 turn. Firestone called, and when the 9 fell on the river Yeh fired out $250,000. Firestone didn’t take long to call with Q J, good enough to beat Yeh’s mucked cards and boost his stack to $1,500,000.

Yeh managed to get $180,000 of his chips back from Firestone a few minutes later, which ended up being a very good thing. On the very last hand of the level, Kenneth Terrell opened up for $140,000 and Yeh made it $280,000 to go. The action folded back to Terrell, who shipped it for $615,000 total.

Yeh quickly called and tabled Q Q, but he was far behind Terrell’s A A. Neither of the other queens in the deck came and Yeh was down to just $435,000; Terrell, meanwhile, was up to $1,315,000.

Gargano Garotted! (10th)

Tony Gargano was looking to pick up easy chips when the action folded to him and he shoved from the small blind for $400,000, but his aggressive strategy ran into Vitaly Lunkin’s A J in the big blind. Gargano’s Q 2 wasn’t able to catch up, and he left in 10th place with $36,567.

Yeh Nayed! (9th)

It should have been a much bigger day for Philip Yeh, given his stack and his playing style, but the poker gods appeared to have a different fate in mind for him. The action folded to him in middle position and he open-shoved for his last $405,000. Vitaly Lunkin made the call from the cutoff with A J, a great decision since Yeh held A 9.

The flop brought a jack, putting Yeh even further into the hole than he’d begun. The rest of the board missed Yeh completely, sending him home in 9th place for $57,990.

We’ve reached our final 10 players and the two tables have been combined to one, which will crown a champion sometime later in the evening. Here’s the skinny.

Brown Cowed! (14th)

Jeffrey Brown opened up for his entire stack, $245,000, holding A J. He ended up in one of the worst possible situations for his holding when Brett Kimes called with A K - at least until the flop came J 8 8. Kimes caught back up when the K came on the turn, and the Q hit the river to send Brown home.

Brown takes down $29,180.

Jerome Ivey’d! (13th)

After hanging on for quite some time, Carl Jerome finally met his match in the form of checking a solid hand to the river.
Jerome completed his small blind and Barry Schultz checked his option in the big blind. The two men checked down to river with the board reading 2 A Q 10 J, and Jerome checked again. Schultz led out for $120,000, and Jerome check-raised all-in for $660,000. Schultz took no time at all making the call, flipping up K 5 for the stone cold nuts; Jerome showed Q 2 for two pair, and hit the rail in 13th place.

Jerome takes home $36,567.

Ramahi Run Over! (12th)

Bashar Ramahi decided to get his short stack in the middle with pocket sixes and ran straight into Brett Kimes’ pocket queens. The two-outer never came and Ramahi went home in 12th place with $36,567.

Smith Smoked! (11th)

Jordan Smith was the last man to leave before the final table. Bobby Firestone opened for $75,000, and Smith shipped it for his last $330,000. Firestone called with 8-8, leaving him in fantastic shape against Smith and his A-5. Without an ace by the river, Smith finished in 11th place. He took home $36,567.

Send in the Clowns

Here’s your final table lineup, along with their chip counts, courtesy of WorldSeriesOfPoker.com:

Seat 1	Philip Yeh	$1,360,000
Seat 2	Jeffrey Brown	$310,000
Seat 3	Tony Gargano	$285,000
Seat 4	Vitaly Lunkin	$1,030,000
Seat 5	Trevor Donaldson	$265,000
Seat 6	Barry Schultz	$1,340,000
Seat 7	Kenneth Terrell	$650,000
Seat 8	Richard Alm	$500,000
Seat 9	Bobby Firestone	$920,000
Seat 10	Brett Kimes	$1,500,000

 

We were supposed to get to the final table in this event last night, but the monstrous size of the field made that difficult. So we started the day with 17 players and 42 minutes and 16 seconds left on Level 20 instead. Here’s what has gone down so far since the 2 p.m. restart.

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun

We’ve had several double-ups since getting the action back under way.

The first to double his stack was Bashar Ramahi. He came shoved over the top of an opening raise from Kenneth Terrell, who called with 2 2. Ramahi held A 3, which was good once the board ran out.

Next to come out twice as tall as before was Richard Alm. He shoved for $303,000 on a K 4 2 board holding K Q and was called by Carl Jerome with A 7. No diamonds or aces and Alm was up to $750,000.

Finally, Tony Gargano flipped the tables on Bobby Firestone when his J 8 connected with the 9 8 4 flop. Firestone got in with J 10 but his outs didn’t come home and Gargano moved up to $740,000.

Fitzgerald Finished! (17th)

Deric Fitzgerald open shoved for his last $140,000 with A J and was called by fellow short stack Brett Kimes with 8 8. The board brought no help for Fitzgerald and he was eliminated in 17th place. Kimes, meanwhile, was up to $315,000.

Fitzgerald takes home $21,972.

Simpson Homered! (16th)

Carl Jerome opened with pocket tens and Frank Simpson called off his last $139,000 with A-K. The board was no help, sending Simpson home in 16th place with $21,792.

Blair Linda’d! (15th)

Deb Blair, the last woman standing in this event, is standing no more. Richard Alm opened in late position for $60,000 and Blair called her last $59,000 off from the small blind. Philip “Clap Your Hands Say” Yeh also called from the big blind. A big pot developed between Alm and Yeh with the board reading A 6 8, and after the river Yeh flipped up A K to beat Alm’s A Q.

Top pair was good enough to beat Blair’s K-3, and she finished in 15th place for $29,180.

Dark Side of the Chip Counts

Here are your current top 10 chip counts, according to WorldSeriesOfPoker.com:

Philip Yeh	$1,500,000
Vitaly Lunkin	$912,000
Barry Schultz	$858,000
Jordan Smith	$820,000
Tony Gargano	$740,000
Kenneth Terrell	$700,000
Richard Alm	$600,000
Trevor Donaldson	$470,000
Jeffrey Brown	$320,000
Robert Brown	$300,000