Home / Poker News December 2009 / PokerStars APPT Grand Final – Aaron Benton victorious
PokerStars APPT Grand Final – Aaron Benton victorious
Posted by: James Carter. - Tue, 2009-12-08 05:57
The final table of the 2009 PokerStars APPT Grand Final was dominated by Aussies. Out of the 9 final table participants, 7 were locals, one was from the US and one player was Dutch. Even so, the Dutchman, Ernst Hermans nearly caused an upset, but he was eventually edged by one of the local boys, Aaron Benton, who took down the PokerStars
EPT trophy and the $500,348 that came with it.
The 32 year old Australian was once a reality TV star and he tried his hand at several different ways to generate dough. Success came in the shape of this APPT Grand final win, as at the end of an 11 hour run, he managed to claim the lion’s share of the prize-pool.
Benton was by no means a newcomer to the live poker scene. He won a seat in all 4 of this season’s APPT stops at PokerStars, so one may as well conclude he’s a pretty skilled
online poker player. Those who do well at online poker seem to have an easier time at the live tables too, and Benton comes as a living testimony to that. In a post game interview, he said he would buy his mother a house with some of his winnings.
Ernst Hermans finished runner up in this poker tournament, but there was no sign of bitterness in the young Dutchman’s post game statement. Despite having lost the heads-up stage, he had no reasons to be discontent with the prize he pocketed. He took down $475,000, which was a nice haul, especially when considering that he had won his seat in the event
online at PokerStars, in a $22 rebuy satellite.
Leo Boxell of Australia finished in 3rd place. The veteran Aussie took down a $213,840 prize. He said he was content with his performance too, which – considering he’d spent most of the event under-stacked – was quite impressive indeed.
Wayne Carlson, Tom Grigg and Andrew Hiscox finished in 4th, 5th and 6th positions respectively. All three Aussies took down 6-figure prizes.
Barry Forrester of Australia finished 7th for $83,160. David Formosa finished 8th, and Thomas Slifka from the US ended up last at the final table.
