Viva Vitaly!
Vitaly Lunkin that is!
Seriously this Russian knows how to play poker (and here I thought poker was so not in the COMMIE spirit!) Anyway, in the kickoff event for ESPN’s 2009 WSOP coverage very few hands were shown of Vitaly. Maybe it’s the fact that the young guns Isaac Haxton, Justin Bonomo, Noah Schwartz, or the other 20 something year olds that made up the final table were just a tad more camera friendly eye candy 
Or maybe its because Vitaly speaks about 7 words of English and they include the terms “all in” and ” F the US!” (Not sure about the last one but you know he’s been spoon fed Anti-American propaganda his whole life, but hey at least it wasn’t anti-poker propaganda). So with that in mind you have to ask yourself how like did Vitaly do so well and come from behind to take home his second WSOP bracelet? (P.S. 2 bracelets is so hotter than one).
Well when you take into account how many hands were probably played in comparison to how many are actually aired you get a ration of something like 10 to 1. So with that in mind Vitaly probably played agressive on the blinds (boring to watch if you’re not a fiend like me) And then he waited for his pivital moments to strike. And strike he did! When only two players remained it was Vitaly and that cuttie Isaac Haxton who went at it heads-up. And what a heads-up game it was. Not once, not twice, but three times Haxton aggressively went all in pre-flop only to have Vitaly call with the better hand. (See boys, it doesnt always pay to be agressive, tee hee )
One instance Haxton had K 10 off suited and to his suprise Lunkin was the bearer of pocket aces. It seemed the end was over for Haxton at that point but OH NO! Not even close. A king came on the flop and the river…well after the turn Haxton asked for “one time give me a ten, just one time”…and BAM a 10! Haxton doubled up and Vitaly was recorded cursing in Russian which is OK cause network TV only bleeps English profanities.
But that’s besides the point. What counts is that Haxton had depleted his “one time”, cause the next time he boldly went all in the poker Gods were like “Dude seriously!” because it was all over and Lunkin took home his second WSOP bracelet and a $1.9 Million US dollars (Does Cha Ching translate the same into Russian!)
KISS
-Debbie Deuece Dallas
Get in with the mucksters