Benton takes the title!

By Ben Blaschke
07 December 2009

THIRTY-two-year-old recruitment consultant Aaron Benton is the Pokerstars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour grand final champion after out-lasting a tough final table that lasted 12 hours at Star City Casino last night.
Benton survived a series of early setbacks and a dwindling chip stack to literally talk his way to victory, finally eliminating Dutch qualifier Ernst Hermans in second-place at 1am to secure the whopping $594,000 first prize.
“I dropped right down to $700,000 at one stage with two big stacks on my left but I wasn’t really being myself,” Benton explained upon lifting the trophy.
“I was really quiet for the first few hours.
“I usually like to talk a lot and talk to the other players – not to intimidate them but to engage conversation with them so I can get a good feeling for where I am at the table and to take control.
“I’d stopped doing that at the start of the final table.
“Even Jason (Star City poker tournament manager) said to me ‘You’re so quiet Aaron – you were so lively yesterday running around and laughing’.
“So I went away during a break and thought ‘I’m going to get a beer’.
“Everyone was so tense at the final table and I didn’t like the atmosphere.
“I bought that beer, came back to the table, had about three sips and then I opened my mouth and just started talking.
“The moment I did that was the moment the tournament changed for me.”
Ironically, Benton had qualified for all four season three APPT events in 2009 without posting any deep runs but saved his best for last.
His surge to the final table included one of the most remarkable hands ever seen when he shoved his chips into the middle on Saturday holding an open-ended straight flush draw only to run into an opponent’s turned full house.
It left him drawing to just two outs – one of which miraculously appeared on the river to give him the straight flush and keep his tournament hopes alive.
“I had some words of advice from Eric Assadourian the other day, who I really look up to,” Benton said.
“When I was in the money yesterday he said ‘That 10k is a nice profit for you but now that you’re in the money you play to win.’
“That’s why I pushed that draw with the straight flush, that’s why I pushed my draws.
“If you go for it and your timing is right and you have a bit of luck, this is what happens.”
Asked if he had ever expected such a remarkable win at the start of the week, Benton said: “I always give myself a chance.
“Even if you’re a million to one – that’s still a chance.
“Everyone comes here on an equal footing and that’s the beauty of poker.”
Incredibly, it took three hours of play before the first elimination yesterday and close to four hours to work through the final four.
But Wayne Carlson’s elimination shortly before midnight sparked a mini-collapse with Leo Boxell departing soon after before Benton went to work on chip leader Hermans.
After chipping away for around 45 minutes, the key hand came when Hermans triple-barrel bluffed holding 8-4 on an A-J-2-7-10 board.
Benton called him down with just J-9 to take a 4:1 chip lead before eventually securing victory half an hour later.
On the final hand he called Hermans’ flop bet on a 9-7-7 board and the insta-called his turn shove – throwing pocket Kings down on the table in the process.
Hermans revealed 8-9 and received no further help as the rest of the board blanked to take $381,348 for second place.
The Pokerstars.net APPT grand final saw a total of 396 players take to the felt including some of the world’s biggest names such as former WSOP champions Joe Hachem and Peter Eastgate, 2007 APPT winner Grant Levy, Pokerstars pros Lee Nelson, Celina Lin and Emad Tahtouh and The Poker Star winner and Amanda de Cesare.
The final table place-getters were:

1. Aaron Benton - $594,000
2. Ernst Hermans - $381,348
3. Leo Boxell - $213,840
4. Wayne Carlson - $166,320
5. Tom Grigg - $130,680
6. Andrew Hiscox - $106,920
7. Barry Forrester - $83,160
8. David Formosa - $65,340
9. Thomas Slifka - $47,520