Ken Aldridge came out victorious after what is considered to have been an epic (as in time consumed, not flashiness or entertainment or skills displayed) HU battle with Carman Cavella, to win the bracelet in event #9 of the 40th edition of the World Series of Poker. This 3-day event had a prizepool of $1,991,535, 1,459 hopefuls and a buy-in of $1,500. The tables ran six-handed this time, which meant there were tons of ultra-aggressive play, the kind that would make TeddyKGb proud.
Notables: Rafe Furst had an impressive run, finishing in 31st place. Juan Carlos Mortensen also cashed, eking out the 92nd spot. Mat “All In at 420” also cashed in 101st. Kenneth “drama lama” Terrell came in at 107th. Isaac Haxton in 104th.
When play came down to 7-handed, all the players were moved to the same table in order to have the final elimination on the official ESPN final table. Praz Bansi was the unfortunate bubble boy, when his A
T pushed all-in pf and got snap-called by A
J 
held by Brice Yockey. The board played out 9235A, and Bansi was sent packing in 7th with $42,320 for his efforts.
So, then the official ESPN Final Table was set up, and it was as follows:
Seat 1: Ken Aldridge
Seat 2: Peter Gould
Seat 3: Charles Furey
Seat 4: Bryce Yockey
Seat 5: Carman Cavella
Seat 6: Manny Minaya
Yockey was the overwhelming chip leader at the onset of this final table.
Manny Minaya was the first to depart from the final table. He was holding 88 and open-shoved all-in for 295K chips and Peter Gould insta-called him from the button with 99. Bigger pair held on the board reading Q63J4, and Minaya from the Dominican Republic was sent home in 6th with $59,049 in cold hard cash in his pocket.
The next elimination took a ton of play to get to. Several breaks happened in between also. Then finally some action came up, with a 3bet allin pf pot between Charles Furey and Ken Aldridge. Furey held TT, while Aldrige had 99 and was in serious need for help. And help is just what he got when the board played out 937Q3, eliminating Furey whom he barely covered in 5th place and earning Furey a $80,896 payday.
Just a few hands afterwards, the once dominant chipleader Bryce Yockey found himself in a preflop race with Carman Cavella, who covered him just barely. Yockey held TT
, while Cavella held KQ. The board came Q688A, and Cavella sent Yockey home in 4th with a $115,230 prize in cold hard cash.
After some play, which included a 1 hand penalty to Peter Gould for exposing his cards during a hand, was the next elimination. Gould raised to 120K on the button, and Ken Aldridge called in the BB. The flop came 762. Aldridge checked, and Gould immediately applied pressure in the form of a 385K bet all-in. Aldridge tanked, for a long while, before he made a monstercall with AT versus Gould’s K9. A on turn sent Gould out in 3rd place, with a $170,953 reward for his efforts tonight.
After this hand, the 2 remaining players went on a 20 minute break. Play then resumed, with Ken “Teach” Aldridge vs Carman Cavella playing on one of the most conservative HU battles for a bracelet we’ve seen in recent history. Very small ball poker, with just about 1 bet per pot on average. Not what we would expect to see on such a high level. Eventually, Cavella had been ground down to about 900K chips while Aldridge had about 5,600,000. Cavella came back after back to back doubleups to just about even for the match to go on longer.
The eventual final hand came down as follows: Cavella, being a short stack yet again, found himself having to go all-in with K4. Aldridge quickly called with KQ. The board came 99KTJ, and Cavella got outkicked into second place with about $264,814 for his efforts. Ken “Teach” Aldridge won the hand, the 2009 WSOP event#9 bracelet, and $428,259 in cold hard cash.
Congratulations to everyone who played!