If there is one tournament that any poker player would like to go deep in, without a doubt it would be the main event. The 2008 WSOP Main Event saw the numbers jump back up from last year, with 6,844 entrants, and awarding one lucky player with an astounding $9,119,517. Currently, there are still 23 hopefuls left to be called a world champion, but unfortunately it will not be Aaron Gordon.
Aaron Gordon, known as Toadstool on the FTR forums, started playing online poker in February of 2005. You could find him working at his fun hobby in the $6 sit and go’s on Party Poker. His poker career began as a struggle, not being able to get much from his $100 deposit. However, 3 years later, the 21 year old from Brighton, England is now known to beat high stake online cash games and just won $257,334 for his 24th place finish in the main event. I think he figured something out.
Gordon had quite the ride in the 2008 Main Event. He found himself consistently near the top of the leaderboard after day 2, increasing his stack each day. When day 6 began, he sat in 6th chip position with over 3.3 million and only 79 players remaining. Day 6 was a roller coaster ride for Gordon, who was all-in multiple times but survived to Day 7 as a short stack, with 1.7 million in chips and just 27 players remaining. He commented on the FTR forum’s, “I played really bad today, going to have to play fast tomorrow, build a stack or bust!!” If you want to look over the FTR thread that followed Aaron’s main event progress, click here!
He couldn’t get much going on Day 7, and here is the final hand that ended his main event, taken from the WSOP live updates: Aaron Gordon limped into the pot as did Jason Riesenberg. Darus Suharto then made it 330,000 from the button and the blinds stepped aside. Gordon then announced a reraise to 900,000, Riesenberg folded, and Suharto moved all in. Gordon put his last 735,000 into the middle to make the call. Gordon: 
Suharto: 
The board ran out 
to eliminate Aaron Gordon in 24th place for $257,334 in prize money.
$257k is a very healthy amount to win in a poker tournament, but I imagine Aaron and every player who is eliminated getting this deep in the main event has to feel some pain. From everyone at FTR, congratulations to Aaron “Toadstool” Gordon!