Mike Matusow was stopped in the WPT finals by Alan Sternberg in a disappointing result. Sexton, sitting on the very short stack to enter the final table, was the first player eliminated at the 27th hand of play by Mike Matusow. Sexton looked to be in great shape with K-Q against Matusow's K-J, but Matusow hit a J on the river to knock out poker's ambassador and not only shrink the final table to five players, but also collected the $5,000 bounty on Sexton's head as he was a Shooting Star during the event.

Just three hands later, Steven Kelly knocked out Casey McCarrel (J-10 over A-Q) and it was a four way race with Kelly at the top and Vivek Rajkumar at the bottom. Rajkumar, hoping to improve on his runner-up finish at the LAPC last month, then was involved with Sternberg in one of the craziest hands of the night. Sternberg opened, Rajkumar three-bet and Sternberg called. After a flop of A-6-5, Sternberg checked, Rajkumar bet, Sternberg raised and Rajkumar called. A turn Q sparked a bet from Sternberg and a cal from Rajkumar and another Q on the river enticed Sternberg to move all-in. Rajkumar called quickly and showed quads while Sternberg dejectedly had a full house with 6-6.