2009 World Series of Poker

Event #9 No Limit Hold'Em/Six Handed
Day 3 -- Final Table

Play began just after 1:00 PM and within 10 minutes the first bust happened. Bryn Kenney, in 8th place, lost to the Jack kicker of Carman Cavella. Next in 7th was Praz Bansi who moved all-in with A 10 and lost to Bryce Yockey who called him with A J. So now we have the needed 6 for the final table.

After ESPN got their film in their cameras, we were back in the action. In 6th place was Manny Minaya when he pushed to the center all his chips preflop holding pocket 8's and was called by Peter Gould with pocket 9's. No other cards improved the position of either player, so Manny went to pick up the cash for his efforts. From that point, most of the action was overly careful, as a raise or all-in was enough to make the other players back off. It took 4 hours for the next bust to occur. Charles Furey just wished it had not been him in 5th place. Furey moved all-in preflop with pocket 10's and was called by Ken Aldridge with pocket 9's. The flop was 9 3 7, giving joy and pain to the faces of both players. Turn card was a Q and river a 3 which stopped the Charles Furey quest for a gold WSOP bracelet with a full house (9's/3's). In the next elimination, Bryce Yockey with pocket 10's went all-in with Carman Cavella having Kh Qh preflop. But the hand of fate had other plans and placed a Queen with two 8 cards on the board, giving the win to Cavella and the slap to Yockey who left in 4th place. In 3rd place was Peter Gould who lost when Ken Aldridge paired his Ace card on the turn.

So now we have the heads up between Ken Aldridge with 2,960,000 chips and Carman Cavella having 3,610,000 chips. One factor that makes heads up so interesting is that occasionally, one player makes an incredible comeback after being down to a chip and a chair. After Aldridge turned the tables on Cavella, he ground him down to a very short stack, went all-in only to have Cavella survive as he doubled and re-doubled his stack putting him back in the game. But after 3 hours, the last hand came when both went all-in preflop, Cavella having K 4 and Aldridge showing K Q. The flop produced 9 9 K, turn card 10 and a J for the river. So Ken Aldridge made a King high straight and became the newest champion and WSOP gold bracelet holder.

1. Ken Aldridge -- $428,259
2. Carman Cavella -- $264,814
3. Peter Gould -- $170,953
4. Bryce Yockey -- $115,230
5. Charles Furey -- $80,896
6. Manny Minaya -- $59,049
7. Praz Bansi -- $42,320
8. Bryn Kenney -- $42,320

1. Rami Boukai -- $244,862
2. Najib Benanni -- $151,335
3. Ben Grundy -- $99,574
4. Cornel Cimpan -- $69,546
5. Daniel Makowsky -- $51,313
6. Paul Parker -- $39,904
7. Pawel Andrzejewski -- $32,653
8. John Kabbaj -- $28,006
9. Sigi Stockinger -- $25,151