With only 20 minutes to go in Level 9, Paul Pierce made his exit from the WSOP main event. The NBA All-Star had been the attention of all at the secondary feature table, even players like Dennis Phillips who asked him for an autograph during play. Pierce played a patient game, but seemed to get active after dinner and would ultimately find himself in a rough spot with 2-2 all-in preflop against the J-J of Allan Vrooman. The board ran clean for Vroonman (K-8-5-4-K) and Pierce stood up from his chair, grabbed his backpack and walked out the door with spectators and players giving him a round of applause as they announced his departure.

Pierce spent a total of 17 hours and 40 minutes in action and outlasted more than half of the field of 2,031 that began on Day 2A.