Ken Aldridge wins 2009 WSOP Event 9Ken Aldridge is 57-year-old former school teacher, who now owns a small car dealership in North Carolina. Several years ago a friend of his won a seat on the Party Poker Million cruise and invited him to come along. Around this time he started playing poker, but admits he was mostly a fish all the pros wanted to play because he was new. After growing tired of losing his money, he decided to get serious about the game and only in the last couple years has he been confident in tournaments.

Well after 6 trips to the WSOP with no cash, the seventh time was a charm. Last night Ken Aldridge picked up his first WSOP cash which happened to be a first place finish scoring him $428,259 and a WSOP bracelet.

Here’s how the action unfolded.

As action started for day three there were eight players left in the field. The first to go was Bryn Kenney who found himself all in bad with As 9d against Carman Cavella’s Ah Jd neither player made a pair and Kenney was out kicked and eliminated.

This event was 6 max, but with seven players left all were condensed to a final table, though officially as far as WSOP stats are concerned it would not be a final table till one additional day three player was eliminated. It was Praz Bansi who would need to settle for being that “official” final table Bubble boy spot and $42,320 seventh place prize money when his Ac Tc ran into Bryce Yockey’s As Jh.

The first player bounced from the official final table was Manny Minaya when his pocket eights failed to suck out on Peter Gould’s pocket nines. Minaya collected $59,049 for his sixth place finish.

With five players to go Ken Aldridge caught fire. The hand that brought him to the summit saw Yockey make it 57K to go and both Aldridge and Cavella call. On a flop of 6d Js 7c, Aldridge bet out for 80K and only Cavalla called. When the turn came 2d Aldridge bet out 225K, Cavella then shoved all in and Aldridge went into the tank for a bit. He finally made the call and tabled Kd Jd for top pair with a flush draw. Cavella showed pocket eights. The river fell the 5s and Aldridge doubled up to 2.2 million, taking over the chip lead.

Bryce Yockey regained the chip lead after picking off a bluff made by Ken Aldridge. On this hand Yockey raised to 80K preflop and Aldridge called. The flop came Ac 3h 4c and Yockey bet 80K and Aldridge called. On a turn of Ah Yockey bet out 120K and again Aldridge flat-called. The river card was the Ad and Yockey checked. Aldridge bet out 200K and Yockey nearly snap-called, showing Kh Jd for trip aces with K-J. Aldridge showed 5c6c for trip aces with air and Yockey moved up to 1.93 million in chips after this pot.

Charles Furey was left wondering what could have been as he headed to the rail to pick up $80,896 for his fifth place finish when his pocket tens were cracked when the flops door card gave Ken Aldridge a set of nines.

The starting days chip leader Bryce Yockey would be the next out. On his final hand he got into a raising war with Carman Cavella preflop which resulted in an all in. Cavella held Kh Qh and Yockey had pocket tens. A queen on the flop and no help on the river sent Yockey to the rail to collect his $115,230 fourth place prize money.

An interesting hand would send Peter Gould out in third place. On this hand Gould raised to 120K preflop, Aldridge called and the flop came 7d 6s 2c and Aldridge checked over to Gould who moved all in for 385K. Aldridge went into the tank for awhile before making a hero call with A-10 which was well ahead of Gould’s Kd9c. When an Ace fell on the turn Gould was drawing dead and picked up $170,953 for his third-place run.

When heads up play started Carman Cavella held a slight chip lead of 3.61 million to Aldridge’s 2.96 million. The heads up battle was remnant of a PokerStars $22 Heads up SNG between a couple ubber-nits. As most pots seen each player limp and check hands down to showdown, or bet and get smooth called along the way (very few raises) pretty much the exact opposite of how a WSOP final battle generally plays out.

In the end Aldridge changed gears and through aggression literally punished Cavella as he near systematically grinded chips off him. On the final hand Cavella was short-stacked and moved in with Kd 4d and Aldridge made the call with Ks Qd. The flop came down Kc 9c 9s. Cavella was unable to draw out for a chopped pot and had to settle for $264,814 as 2009 WSOP Event #9 runner-up as Ken Aldridge successfully captured the bracelet and $428,259 top place prize money.