Aldridge and Boukai Latest Bracelet Winners

Posted by pokerguru on June 8, 2009

We are seeing some incredible heads up actions in these poker tournaments and Event #9 was no different. Ken Aldridge and Carman Cavella went head’s up and we saw dramatic chips swings and fantastic play for the duration. Aldridge came out on top, but this was a showdown that people will remember for quite some time. After three hours, Aldridge finally found a hand that allowed him to capture the bracelet. Here is the final hand.

Aldridge had been getting the best of Cavella for quite a while at this point and Cavella needed to make a move to try and get back in the tournament. He looked down at K4 diamonds and liked his chances so he shoved in and got an instacall from Aldridge who had him dominated with KQ. The flop gave him a little hope with K99, but the board never matched or hit an Ace and this marathon was finally over. Aldridge takes down $428,259 for first and Cavella will take home $264,814 for second place.

Event #10 was another long day, 13 hours in all. This tournament had been moving much slower than the others. So much so that the last day was only supposed to be a final table, but they had to play from 18 because of the pace. In the end, Boukai would emerge as another first time bracelet winner. We are seeing a lot of new names emerge so far as the pros are having a very difficult picking their way through these massive fields of very aggressive players. Here is a recap of the last hand.

Bennani was on the button and made a pot limit raise. Bouakai came over the top to put him all in and Bennani made the call. Boukai was sittign on pocket 9’s, but Bennani had two live over cards with a JdQh. The flop was great news with AKQ and it looked great for Bennnani until Boukai hit a 2 outer on the turn with a 9d. To add insult to injury, an Ad hit the river and Bennani was sent to the rail. He collected $151,335 for second place and Boukai wins $244,862 and his first bracelet.

In other tournaments…

Event #11 has finished its day two with 25 players still remaining so they will have to come back a little early and play a long session down to the bracelet winner. Hellmuth was eliminated to his usual rant when he placed his faith in 66 and was not rewarded. Picking a name out of this one is like a blind draw, but Scott Hall has been playing great and is well within striking distance of the chip leader. Let’s see if he can make a move on the final day.

Event #12 is easily the largest field of pros that we have seen go this far in a tournament. In fact, the top position is held by Huck Seed and Todd and Doyle Brunson are nipping at his heels. When Seed has chips he is as good as they get, but nostalgia has to have you hoping that Doyle can get it done one more time.

Event #13 is still trudging along with 180 players left in the field. Chip counts were not yet posted for this event. Event #14 was also in its first day and this one has a surprising amount of eliminations being a limit tournament. Our guess is the players playing no limit hands in a limit game and donating their chips in pot after pot. This is another event that is stacked with top name pros as the game of limit is a little more than most No Limit players can adjust to. This should be a great day two.