Just recently, the poker world was abuzz with news about how star-studded the final table of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star was. Now, however, the unpredictable nature of poker is once again brought to light as Satellite winner Alan Sternberg managed to outlast some of the toughest pros in the industry. He banked over $1 million for his efforts, the WPT title, and bragging rights for besting one of the toughest final tables in WPT history.
Final Table Play
All the attention was actually on Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton for making his first ever WPT Final Table. Sexton had to forgo his duties as WPT host, with Tony Dunst, “Raw Deal” host, taking his place for the time being. He had the shortest stack among the six players and knew perfectly well that his chances of surviving to the end were slim. Sure enough, he was eliminated after just 27 hands, courtesy of Mike Matusow who was rewarded with an autographed Shooting Star shirt as well as a bounty of $5,000. Casey McCarrel, who had the second shortest stack going into the final table, exited the table three hands later, courtesy of Steven Kelly. Next to go was Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar who was also ousted courtesy of Kelly. After that, only three players were left. Mike “The Mouth” Matusow was then eliminated by Alan Sternberg – a move which helped boost Sternberg’s chip stack, making him more or less on par with Steven Kelly as they entered heads up play.
Heads up Between Kelly and Sternberg
At the beginning of Heads up play, Kelly and Sternberg decided that they both want to play without antes. They convinced tournament director, Matt Savage, of their cause and Savage eventually agreed. The two of them battled it out fiercely, but ultimately, Sternberg would steadily chip away at Kelly’s stack until he gained a massive lead of 5:1. In the end, Sternberg had 10-8 of spades while Kelly had A-Q. The flop was Q-8-7, which gave both players a pair but gave Kelly the stronger hand. The turn was revealed to be a 7, which made no difference. But then the river came out as an 8, which ultimately gave Sternberg the victory. Kelly still earned $595,000 for his efforts while Sternberg went on to claim the $1,039,000 grand prize – pretty impressive considering that he got into the WPT through a satellite.
Related posts:
