It wasn’t the legend, the Dutch rookie or any of the online phenoms, but a quiet Russian who won the 2009 World Series of Poker Special 40th Annual $40,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament.

Vitaly Lunkin beat Isaac Haxton after 54 hands in two hours of heads-up play and outlasted the 201-player field, won a gold bracelet and pocketed $1,891,012 early Monday morning. Haxton left with $1,168,566 as runner-up..

Lunkin won the title when his A A held up again the 8 3 of Haxton. Haxton pushed all in with a pair and flush draw on the Q T 8 flop and Lunkin called with his over pair. The turn and river blanked for Haxton with the 7 and K.

The special $40,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament was held to honor and commemorate 2009 as the 40th year of the World Series of Poker. The tournament drew the biggest names in the poker world — former WSOP Main Event champions, including Scotty Nguyen and Doyle Brunson, high-stakes cash game players Phil Ivey and Ted Forrest, and numerous young, online professionals.

“Every player at the table was a star and I knew about them, but now I saw them in a real tournament and I’m very happy that I had this chance to battle with them,” an adrenaline-fueled and excited Lunkin told reporters through a translator after the tournament. “It was the most difficult poker tournament in my life.”

The slow-paced heads-up match had Lunkin and Haxton trading pots, taking blinds and antes mostly, until a little more than two hours into heads-up play Lunkin, trailing 2-1 to Haxton, doubled-up with T T against the 23-year-old’s K 3. Haxton opened for a raise on the button, Lunkin re-raised him before Haxton pushed all in, which Lunkin called. He made a set on the flop — T 4 2 — and Haxton needed to catch a 5 and either an Ace or a 6 for a straight to win the bracelet. The Q and J on fourth and fifth street, respectively, was no help to Haxton as he swapped the chip lead with Lunkin.

Fifteen minutes later, Lunkin had A A and was able to get Haxton push all in with K T after flopping top pair on the 3 K 5 flop and 6 on the turn. After seeing the pocket aces and being an 8-1 underdog needing a King or a 10, Haxton said, “This would be a good time for my ‘one time.’” All at once, the crowd shouted,”One time!” and when the T came on the river, the audience erupted and Haxton threw his hands in the air. “That’s sick,” Haxton said as the chips were being counted and he took a slight chip lead over Lunkin.

The Russian got his revenge two hands later when he moved all in with Q T against Haxton’s Q 8. Lunkin moved all in on after a 4 5 A flop. Both the crowd and Haxton celebrated the 8 on the turn, which gave Haxton the lead, but when the 2 rivered, Lunkin took a 18.6 million to 5.5 million chip lead over Haxton.

Lunkin, who won his first WSOP bracelet last year in Event #27 ($1,500 No Limit Hold’em), was quiet most of the day and wasn’t involved too many big pots, building a chip stack by stealing blinds and antes and taking pots without going to a showdown. He did this heads-up as well, overcoming a 2-1 chip deficit and taking a big pot on the river without Haxton calling.

The biggest hand Lunkin played until heads-up was a call on the river with King high against Alec Torelli. On a board of A Q 5 6 A, Torelli led out for 100,000 after the two checked all the way down. Lunkin called and showed K J to beat Torelli’s 8 4.

Haxton said his goal during the heads-up match was to play for small pots and chip away from his opponent.

“I expected (Lunkin) to be a much weaker heads-up player than he ended up being. So my plan from the very beginning was to see a lot of flops, play a lot of small pots and just try to win more pots than him,” Haxton said. “I was very disappointed to see Vitaly wasn’t folding buttons, wasn’t really folding much to my (minimum) raises and even more disappointed when I came back from break and he started three-betting me a lot. I thought he played very, very well.”

Haxton made it to the heads-up match by taking big pots when the tournament was down to three- and four-handed. Shortly after returning from the dinner break, Haxton made a big move in the chip count by doubling-up off of Dani “Ansky451″ Stern and then finishing him off on the next hand.

Stern raised from the button with pocket 5s and Haxton, the short stack at the time, reraised all in from the big blind with K 7. He caught major help when 6 3 A came on the flop, giving him nut flush outs in addition to the remaining Kings and 7s. Haxton won the hand on the turn when the 9 fell, giving him the flush. The next hand, Stern moved all in with Q T and Haxton asked for a chip count before calling with A K. Stern wasn’t able to catch a Queen or a 10 — 5 J 2 2 2 — and was eliminated in fourth place and took $548,315. The pot also moved Haxton into second in chips behind Raymer.

After taking over the chip lead by picking up a few small pots, Haxton and 2004 Main Event Champion Greg “Fossil-man” Raymer, the two chip leaders, pushed all in before the flop with pocket pair versus pocket pair. Raymer was all in with two red 5s against Haxton’s 9 9. The flop fell K T Q - no help to the 2004 Main Event champion. The turn brought the 3 and the 3 paired on the river, eliminating Raymer in third place with $774,927, and giving Haxton a 2-1 chip lead over Lunkin as they started heads-up play.

Exciting play came in bunches, however, after a slow start to second event of the 2009 WSOP on Sunday as it took 12 hands to see a flop at the final table on Sunday. The next 15 hands, however, saw five all-ins and two eliminations.

Forrest was knocked out in ninth place on the 19th hand of play on Sunday when he pushed his short stack all in from the small blind with J T. He originally called the big blind after action was folded to him, then Noah Schwartz, raised from the big blind. Forrest moved all in and Schwartz called with 3 3. The flop, 9 K 2, created some buzz from the crowd gathered around the feature table as Forrest picked up a straight draw in addition to his over cards, but Schwartz got some help with a spade flush draw. When the 8 fell on the turn, Forrest gained another out, a non-spade 7. But the 4 on the river shipped Forrest’s stack to Schwartz in seat two.

Six hands later, Schwartz moved all in with A K, but ran into Raymer’s A A. Schwartz needed runner-runner for a straight or trips after the 8 J 7 flop, but the 5 on the turn knocked him out in eighth place.

Raymer’s good fortune continued two hands later, when he doubled up after flopping a set against the chip leader at the begining of the day, Haxton. On a 9 6 5 board, he checked to Raymer who bet out for 40,000. Haxton raised all in and Raymer called instantly, flipping over 6 6, besting Haxton’s J J. The board paired 5s on the turn and the 2 on the river made Raymer the new chip leader with approximately 5.7 million in chips with seven players remaining.

Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis was knocked out in seventh by Raymer and his two black kings as he continued to build his chip lead over the remaining players early in the day. Veldhuis re-raised Raymer all in from the button. Raymer, again, insta-called with K K, a 2-1 favorite against Veldhuis’ A 7. The Dutch online star didn’t catch on the 2 6 J Q T board and was eliminated, taking home $277,940.

Haxton eliminated Torelli when he moved his short stack all in six-handed from the cutoff with A 2 and Haxton called on the button with A T, dominating the young Orange County native. With a 8 Q J Q board, Torelli had a chance to stay alive in the tournament, but 5 on the river eliminated him. Torelli finished in sixth and left with $329,730 — his third cash in the two years he’s played in the WSOP.

Haxton next took out the Day 1 chip leader Justin Bonomo after the two held over pairs to the 3 9 T flop. After Haxton led out for 300,000, Raymer folded, Bonomo moved all in with J J and Haxton quickly called and showed A A. The turn, 2, was no help for Bonomo and the A on the river gave Haxton a set. Bonomo left his third WSOP final table in fifth place, earning $413,166.

Event #2 Final table results and payouts

1. Vitaly Lunkin - $1,891,012
2. Isaac Haxton  - $1,168,566
3. Greg Raymer - $774,927
4. Dani Stern - $548,315
5. Justin Bonomo - $413,166
6. Alec Torelli - $329,730
7. Lex Veldhuis - $277,940
8. Noah Schwartz - $246,834
9. Ted Forrest - $230,317

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