Talk about a final table I cannot wait to see on television. The Bay 101 Shooting Star not only will feature Vivek Rajkumar making his second consecutive World Poker Tour final table, but also Mike Matusow, making his fifth WPT final table (with no previous wins) and the voice of the WPT and poker ambassador, Mike Sexton. With $1 million up for grabs for first place, the dynamic trio will all be chasing chipleader Steven Kelly who is making his first WPT final table, and first cash, after five previous early exits on the WPT. Kelly owns a WSOP bracelet from the $1,500 no-limit hold 'em shootout event as well as one other final table at the Festa al Lago series last October. This is his first televised final table and with the top stack, he's in great position to earn his first WPT title.

Courtesy of WorldPokerTourMike Sexton enters Day 3 13th in chips.

Sexton's stack is 11 times smaller than that of Kelly's and he'll enter play as the short stack with only 18 big blinds. As he is well aware, crazier things have happened on the WPT than to figure he's out of the running.

"Anything might happen," said Sexton to the World Poker tour. "Who knows what might happen. I'm happy to be there."

The critical hand that put Sexton on the short stack came against Matusow. Sexton picked up pocket kings and raised preflop. Matusow, who Sexton said was "playing like a rock", called. The flop came J-6-5 rainbow and Sexton bet, Matusow raised, Sexton reraised and Matusow moved all-in. Sexton believed that Matusow could never be bluffing in that spot and let go of his kings, putting Matusow on a set or aces. Matusow, whether being truthful or not, told Sexton he had aces and that hand was enough to bring him into the top three in chips heading into Friday's final table.

Alan Sternberg is in second-place behind Kelly and is also making his first WPT cash in four events. The New York native has five previous live cashes including a 621st-place finish in the 2010 WSOP main event, but this is his first score of 2011. Sternberg may be at a slight disadvantage with the lack of the final table experience, but his chips should make up for that factor.

As the next edition of ESPN's The Nuts comes out next week, it might be time to consider Vivek Rajkumar for the rankings. Rajkumar, in fourth heading into the final table, is on fire in 2011 and could overtake Andy Frankenberger for the Player of the Year lead with a first or second-place finish in the event. He is the sixth player in WPT history to make back-to-back final tables and with $908,730 already in his pocket in 2011, Rajkumar is set to have his biggest career year ever on the live tournament circuit. He already owns a WPT title and is the only player at that final table who can say that.

In fifth with a stack just slightly larger than Sexton's is Casey McCarrel who is playing in his seventh WPT event. He has one previous cash during the Season 5 stop at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, but the majority of his success has been found outside the WPT and at the WSOP. McCarrel has eight WSOP cashes which includes a 442nd-place finish in the 2005 WSOP main event. That $16,055 payday was the largest live score of his career and with being from the area, he'll be in front of a home crowd.

Payouts on Friday will range from $148,000 for sixth to $1,039,000 for first. Matusow and Sexton, as Shooting Stars, are also bounties in the event with $5,000 going to any player that knocks each one out. Obviousy at this point, that money is negligable as there is a lot more on the line.

With Sexton making the final table, the question I posed yesterday will be answered. During a typical World Poker Tour broadcast, Sexton and Vince Van Patten call the action, but clearly, things will be different on Friday.

During his interview, Matt Savage asked Sexton about what may happen with the broadcast.

"You know, what? I don't know," said Sexton. "Vince might be by himself. They may find somebody. I'm, there playing for a million, let the WPT worry about it. I'm off tomorrow!"

Sexton also joked that the pay at the table is much better. On Friday, one of the other hosts of the WPT, Kimberly Lansing tweeted, "I'll be anchor! Maybe [Tony] Dunst?". It only makes sense that the entire WPT team would fill in for Sexton who has led the ship for all these years.

It could be a historic day on the World Poker Tour and will definitely be an experience to watch Sexton playing for his first WPT title. Here's a look the final table chip counts with the blinds starting at 10,000/20,000 and a 3,000 ante:

1. Steven Kelly (4.1 million in chips)
2. Alan Sternberg (3.7 million)
3. Mike Matusow (2.1 million)
4. Vivek Rajkumar (1.6 million)
5. Casey McCarrel (430,000)
6. Mike Sexton (363,000)