Satellite Qualifier Ascends Above the Stars in San Jose

When you’re a satellite qualifier, sometimes it just feels like the deck is stacked against you. Sure, there are the satellite wonders like Chris Moneymaker or Leron Washington who take their shot in the big event and turn it into a big win, but that doesn’t change the fact that taking a seat with the pros can be intimidating.

For Bay 101 satellite qualifier Alan Sternberg, it was one of those uphill battles, not some glamorous Cinderella story. He came into the final table sandwiched between Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton and the hottest player on the tour, Vivek Rajkumar. Then he dropped most of his stack to Rajkumar in a brutal hand where Rajkumar hit running queens to crack Sternberg’s flopped set of sixes.

For most people, that would be the end of their final table run. Not Alan Sternberg. He rallied from being down to 1.3 million chips and on the bottom of the totem pole to claim the chip lead, capture a bounty, and catapult his name into the WPT history books by picking up the Bay 101 Shooting Star title.

When the final table began, the focus was less on how play would go on the final table and more on how the play-by-play would go from the booth. With Mike Sexton busy with the final table, commentating honors went to Tony Dunst, who went from Raw Deal to real deal in the blink of an eye, taking the seat next to Vince Van Patten.

Sexton’s run at this final table would be a short one though, thanks to a bad beat at the hands of the other Shooting Star at this final table, Mike Matusow. The two got it all-in preflop for the last os Sexton’s dwindling stack and Sexton looked in good shape to double up with [KcQs] to Matusow’s [KdJd]. Sexton faded what he needed to with an [Ah8d4s] flop and a [2h] on the turn, but a [Jc] on the river gave Matusow just the river he needed to take the pot and collect the $5,000 bounty on Sexton’s head. Sexton decided to enjoy the rest of his day off and headed home following the bust, leaving Vince and Tony to handle the commentary.

Casey McCarrel exited shortly after Sexton, making his last stand by reraising all-in over the top of a three-bet from Steven Kelly with [AhQh]. Kelly felt priced in to call with [Jc10s] and spiked a ten on the flop to send McCarrel to the rail.

With the two short stacks out of the way, the lone remaining Shooting Star, Mike Matusow, was left to contend with the trio of aggressive young pros he deemed the Three Stooges. While Matusow sat back and patiently picked his spots, the other three clashed in big pot after big pot.

In one big hand in particular, Alan Sternberg raised out of the small blind and Vivek Rajkumar reraised out of the big blind. Sternberg thought a while before calling and the two saw the flop come [As6c5h]. Sternberg checked, Rajkumar bet one-third of the pot, 105,000, and Sternberg check-raised to 277,000. Rajkumar called and the turn card brought the [Qd]. Sternberg bet 475,000 and Rajkumar called. The river [Qc] brought a flurry of action, as Sternberg announced “all-in” and Rajkumar beat him into the pot with [QhQs] for quad queens. Sternberg showed his [6d6s] and sat there with his jaw on the table for more than a minute as Rajkumar’s stack was counted down.

That hand put Sternberg on the short stack, but he was certainly not down for the count. He rallied and managed to not only retake the chip lead, but pull out to a substantial lead with very few showdowns and absolutely no all-in confrontations. At one point, his stack was so big it had the combined stacks of everyone else at the table covered.

Kelly pulled within striking distance of Sternberg when he eliminated Rajkumar in fourth place. Running low on chips, Rajkumar shoved all-in on the button and Steven Kelly called out of the small blind. Matusow was in the big blind and said he was going to call, but folded his K-Q face-up. Kelly thought that was a bad omen for his own [KhQc], but he ended up being up against Rajkumar’s [KdJc]. There was no jack on the river this time around and Rajkumar was gone in fourth place. The finish is good enough to put him second in the WPT Player of the Year race with 2,000 points. He is so close to frontrunner Andy Frankenberger, that even a cash for 100 points could tie him with the Legends of Poker Champ.

With Rajkumar gone, Matusow was once again the short stack and was running out of time to pick up a hand and double up. Looking to pick up some chips, Matusow shoved all-in with one of the worst starting hands—[9d2s]. Sternberg called him with [KhQh] and flopped a pair of queens to silence The Mouth in third place and pick up his first Shooting Star bounty of the tournament.

Things only got better for Sternberg from there. He and Kelly began heads-up play dead even in chips, but Sternberg jumped to a big lead early thanks to a couple of big pots in which Kelly flopped big draws but ended up with just nine-high.

Running low on chips, Kelly thought he found a great spot to double up when he got it all-in preflop holding [AsQc] to Sternberg’s [8s10s]. The [Qd8h7h] looked good for Kelly and the [7s] on the turn only helped him even more. However, it was not to be for Kelly, as the river brought one of Sternberg’s two outs—the [8c]. His trip eights took the pot and a shocked Sternberg could barely say anything as he reveled in his first WPT victory.

Here are the final table results from the Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event:

1st: Alan Sternberg – $1,039,000
2nd: Steven Kelly – $595,300
3rd: Mike Matusow – $369,800
4th: Vivek Rajkumar – $295,800
5th: Casey McCarrel – $221,800
6th: Mike Sexton – $148,000