Matusow, who also won the $25k NBC Heads-Up Championship this year, returned to WSOP glory with his fourth career bracelet.
Cunningham, who hadn't won a bracelet since 2007, just missed another of his own in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em event.
Elsewhere at the Rio 32 players survived to see Day 2 of the $10k Heads-Up championship including Sam Trickett, Phil Galfond, Phil Hellmuth and Jason Mercier.
Matusow Returns to Glory in $5k Stud Hi-L0
It's been a rough couple of years for Mike Matusow since the Full Tilt shutdown but he continued his rise back up to solvency at the Rio last night.
Matusow added a fourth career WSOP bracelet to his wrist as he defeated a tough final table in Event #13, $5k Stud Hi-Lo.
Matusow defeated Matt Ashton heads-up but also had to get by pros Mike Leah, David "Bakes" Baker, Yuval Bronshtein and Gavin Smith.
Not to say we told you so, but PokerListings predicted something like this might happen in our WSOP preview.
The final eight and payouts:
1. Mike Matusow $266,503 2. Matthew Ashton $164,700 3. Mike Leah $108,412 4. David “Bakes” Baker $79,078 5. Yuval Bronshtein $58,835 6. Tony Cousineau $44,543 7. Gavin Smith $34,268 8. Vladimir Shchemelev $26,757Cunningham Misses Sixth Bracelet in $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em
Another prominent name from poker's past surged towards a bracelet last night but fell just short.
Allen Cunningham, five-time bracelet winner and third-place finisher at the 2006 WSOP Main Event, got as close as heads-up with local cash-game pro Lev Rofman but couldn't seal the deal.
Entering heads-up with a 2-1 chip lead Cunningham had Rofman on the ropes twice but doubled him up each time and lost the chip lead. Cunningham missed a big draw shortly after and that was that.
Rofman earned $166,136 and his first bracelet for the win. The final nine and payouts:
1. Lev Rofman $166,136 2. Allen Cunningham $102,819 3. Jaspal Brar $68,332 4. Kenneth Shelton $50,709 5. Anthony Harb $38,055 6. Eric Crain $28,839 7. Nicolas Halvorson $22,050 8. Timothy Reilly $16,994 9. Jean-Nicolas Fortin $13,195$10k Heads-Up Hits Round of 32 with Trickett, Galfond, Hellmuth
One of the marquee summer events got underway last night with a lot of big names sent packing in the first few rounds.
Delayed a couple of times to get the draw right eventually just 32 names made it on to Day 2 with a shot left for the title.
Our featured player in our WSOP Live Coverage section was Sam Trickett, who knocked off Ben Lamb, Scott Seiver and Martin Jacobsen to advance.
Check out the highlights from his matches here and tune in today at 2 pm for the playdown to the champion. The Round of 32 match-ups:
The 16 players who make it through to the next round will lock down a min-cash of $26,237 while the winner will score $331,190.
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