The 2011 Bay 101 Shooting Star event, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT), wrapped up on Friday with Alan Sternberg taking down the title. Sternberg, a satellite winner, banked over a million dollars and bested one of the toughest final tables of Season IX of the WPT.
Sternberg entered the final table second in chips and all eyes were focused on WPT host Mike Sexton. The Poker Hall of Fame member reached his first open final table and sat with 18 big blinds when play commenced. He Tweeted, “Extreme short stack at Bay 101 final table. Gonna have to get very lucky early and double up a couple of times to become a force.” WPT “Raw Deal” host Tony Dunst replaced Sexton in the broadcast booth alongside Vince Van Patten.
Sexton survived 27 hands before the clock finally struck Midnight on his Bay 101 run. He 3bet all-in from the small blind with K-Q and received a taker in Mike Matusow, who held K-J. The board bricked out until the river, when “The Mouth” hit a jack to eliminate the PartyPoker ambassador. Sixth place was worth $148,000. In addition to Sexton’s chips, Matusow picked up his $5,000 bounty and an autographed Shooting Star shirt.
Three hands later, Casey McCarrel was ousted in fifth place. His A-Q of hearts could not hold up against Steven Kelly’s J-10 on his final hand. The flop came 10-high, propelling Kelly into the lead, and a running K-7 spelled doom for McCarrel, who earned $221,000.
Entering the finale of Bay 101’s Shooting Star tournament, Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar had made back-to-back WPT final tables. He took second in the L.A. Poker Classic a few weeks ago and survived to see fourth place this time around. Rajkumar, a Full Tilt Poker pro, open-shoved all-in with K-J and Kelly called with K-Q.
Matusow folded K-Q in the hand, but the board ran out a rather inoffensive A-3-2-7-10. Rajkumar’s exit came with a $295,000 payday; he now has nearly $3 million in WPT earnings to go along with three final tables. Rajkumar won the Season VII Borgata Poker Open for $1.4 million.
Matusow’s run ended in third place after shoving his last 17 big blinds in with 9-2 pre-flop. Sternberg, the original raiser in the hand, called with K-Q of hearts and no suckout was in store. In fact, Sternberg flopped a queen and never looked back, claiming Matusow’s $5,000 bounty and commemorative shirt.
Sternberg and Kelly were deadlocked in chips entering heads-up play, with a million-dollar prize on the line for the winner. The two convinced WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage to play the final table out without antes and Sternberg ultimately built a lead of nearly 5:1.
In the final hand, Sternberg 3bet all-in before the flop with 10-8 of spades and Kelly called for his tournament life with A-Q. The action flop came Q-8-7, pairing both players, and the turn was a seven. However, Sternberg hit a two-outer on the river when an eight fell to take down the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star title. Kelly pulled in $595,000 for second place:
1. Alan Sternberg – $1,039,000
2. Steven Kelly – $595,300
3. Mike Matusow – $369,800
4. Vivek Rajkumar – $295,800
5. Casey McCarrel – $221,800
6. Mike Sexton – $148,000
The next WPT event on U.S. soil is the Hollywood Poker Open, which will take place from April 9th to 13th in Lawrenceburg, Indiana after stops in Vienna and Bratislava. The Hollywood Poker Open has a price tag of $10,000 and saw Carlos Mortensen rise to the top last year.
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