Matt Brady wins 2008 Aruba Poker Classic

Well-known professional poker player Matt Brady managed to outlast 550 players and beat a final table that included Johan Storakers and Allie Prescott to take down $1 million for first place at the 2008 Aruba Poker Classic yesterday.

Brady entered the final table with the second-largest chip stack and put that stack to good use eliminating Brandon Terry and Jeff Papola while setting himself up for the seemingly inevitable heads-up match against Storakers.

Brady carried a sizable chip advantage into heads-up play and it proved more than Storakers could handle. In the final hand of the tournament Brady flopped trips with T-7 on a J-T-T board, and Storakers was quick to shove with A-J.

Hailing from Havertown, Penn., Brady has built a solid reputation on the tournament circuit with big five-figure scores on both the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker. Surprisingly, this is Brady's first win in a big-buy-in tournament.

In a bizarre turn of events the final table of the UltimateBet-sponsored 2008 Aruba Poker Classic was actually delayed by rain partway through the day. The final table was scheduled to take place on a special platform designed to rest above the pool, but the weather turned decidedly un-Aruba-like when rain started pouring down with six players still remaining.

Organizers quickly moved the players back indoors, and the final table was played out the standard way - in a casino.

The change of venue didn't faze Brady, who can finally write up a major poker tournament win on his resume.

Here are the rest of the final-table payouts: