It’s over!

For the third year in a row, the APPT Grand Final championship trophy is staying in Australia! Having worked his stack back to as much as 2.3 million in the final heads-up, Ernst Hermans called a pre-flop button raise from Aaron Benton of 325,000 to see a flop of 7d-9c-7s.

2009 PokerStars.net APPT new grand final champion Aaron Benton
Hermans checked, Benton fired out 375,000 and Hermans called. The dealer discovered the Qc on the turn and Benton checked; Hermans shoved and Benton just called, good with Kd-Kc against Hermans 9d-8d.

Benton’s supporters were excited; the dealer burned and the last Star City snap echoed through the Sports Theatre, bringing the river 6c and eliminating the Dutch in second place. Having satellited into every season three APPT event on PokerStars, it’s fitting that Aaron Benton has found gold here at Star City!

Congratulations, Aaron!