Vitaly Lunkin (Russia)- Moscow 4.5m chips
Russian Vitaly Lunkin has earned over $750,000 in tournament winnings since making his first cashes in his native Moscow earlier this decade. Lunkin has since made several final tables at other events in Europe. In the World Series of Poker, Lunkin cashed in the Main Event in 2006, earning $14k for his 829th place finish. Then in 2008 Lunkin broke through and won his first WSOP bracelet, taking one of the $1,500 NL Holdem tourneys (Event 27). That day, Lunkin was the last one standing of the 2,706 entrants, earning himself a $628k payday.
Dani Stern (USA) - New York 1.3m chips
This will be Stern's second World Series of Poker cash after having made it to the round of 32 in last summer's $10k World Championship Heads-Up No-Limit Holdem Event. Stern also cashed at the European Poker Tour Barcelona event in 2007. Stern can regularly be found playing in the short-handed high-stakes NLHE games online, including Full Tilt Pokers $500/$1,000
Lex Veldhius (Netherlands)3.8m chips
Lex is another of those former Starcraft players (like Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier) who eventually made the transition to poker. Lex started at the penny tables at the end of 2003 before moving his way up in stakes. Today Veldhuis is a fixture at the higher-stakes online games where he has achieved numerous big tourney scores while also succeeding at the cash tables. He has over $100,000 in live tournament earnings, including 4 cashes during the last two WSOPs in various holdem events. Apparently Lex is currently dating Evelyn Ng ( a lady I sat near to in the RIO last year - stunning!)
Justin Bonomo (USA) - Las Vegas 1.6m chips
In less than 3 years since turning 21, Justin 'ZeeJustin' Bonomo has amassed over $1.8 m USD in tournament winnings. Bonomo has cashed 7 times at World Poker Tour events, and has five WSOP cashes in the 2 years he has played. More recently, Bonomo won the $5k WSOP-Circuit Championship Event at Caesars Place in April, earning $227k for doing so. This is Bonomo's third WSOP, and already he has had a couple of near-misses in his quest to earn his first WSOP gold bracelet. In 2007, Bonomo finished fourth in the $2k No-Limit Holdem Event eventually won by William Durkee, earning $156k. And last summer at the 2008 WSOP, Bonomo came even closer, finishing runner-up to Erick Lindgren in the $5k buy-in Mixed Holdem (No-Limit/Limit) Event, winning $230k. Many people still don't like him for his multi-accounting notoriety online but apparently he is one of hundreds who have done this which is one of the reasons why it is so hard to win a big Sunday event.
rest to follow later.
[Great value WSOP packages on Doyles Room]
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