Benton on a mission

By Ben Blaschke
06 December 2009

LIFE changing moments are a rarity but Aaron Benton is closing in on one after surging to his first live final table in the Pokerstars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour grand final at Star City last night.
Benton, a former Big Brother contestant, will sit down today with a formidable $1,785,000 chip stack placing him just behind leaders Ernst Hermans and Tom Grigg.
But more than just a hefty payday, Benton – who already boasts a $262,500 online payday in 2009 – told Big Game Poker that success tomorrow will shape the course of the coming year.
“I was a consultant at a good job paying around that sort of money per year in Singapore but I thought to myself ‘Why not take a 12 months off and focus on playing some line poker’,” he said.
“I was pretty close to cashing in Auckland recently which was disappointing but this one is my big chance.
“If I can finish in the top few I probably won’t go back to work for a while.
“I’m meant to go back to work in January but I said to my boss that should I do well here I might not be back for a while.
“He said ‘No worries’.”
Incredibly, Benton’s day was all but over when he ran an open-ended straight flush draw into a full house midway through the day but a miracle river kept him alive and he didn’t look back.
“It’s a hand I’ll never, ever forget,” he said.
“I was actually walking away from the table thinking it was all over and then I hit a two-outer on the river that saved me.”
An action-packed day saw 66 players sit down to play down to the final nine and it took a whopping 14 hours to reach the magic number.
Among those in the money were 2007 champion Grant Levy, Pokerstars pro Eric Assadourian and reigning Sydney Championships winner Jarred Graham.
Graham was on the verge of completing s remarkable series following his win in the High Rollers event earlier this week before losing three key hands to crash out in 10th.
Instead, 28-year-old marketing student Hermans will lead the field into the final table with $2,048,000 in chips as he strives for the $594,000 first prize.
The final tablists are:

1. Ernst Hermans - $2,048,000
2. Tom Grigg - $1,950,000
3. Aaron Benton - $1,785,000
4. Leo Boxell - $1,236,000
5. Barry Forrester - $1,087,000
6. Wayne Carlson - $1,014,000
7. David Formosa - $956,000
8. Andrew Hiscox - $848,000
9. Thomas Slifka - $758,000