Crowd favorite and WPT bracelet winner from way back in the very first season of the WPT Chris Karagulleyan (right) has been eliminated from the tournament in 4th place, taking home the $430,963 and clearing out a chunk of the stands as many of his fans left as Chris made his exit.  Not long after Karagulleyan was sidelined, Mike “SowersUNCC” Sowers had Andrew Cimpan all in as well.

Cimpan had the AQ and needed to outrun Sowers 55 to avoid becoming the 3rd place finisher.  The A42 flop gave him the lead in the hand but also gave Sowers a gutshot straight draw and backdoor diamond flush draw to go along with his chances of hitting a set.  He missed his outs though, with a K turn and 2 river to double Cimpan up and leave Sowers as the shortstack in 3 handed play with 2.7 million while Cimpan was able to double his 2.6 million stack to over 5 million chips and put him in a virtual tie for first place in the chip counts with Binh Nguyen.

• February 27, 2009 -- Sowers Soured, Out 3rd
• February 27, 2009 -- Sowers On Top, Walsh Out 5th
• February 26, 2009 -- Ferguson Out 6th, Sowers Down and Back Up
• February 26, 2009 -- Sowers Doubles Through Ferguson