Brandon Hall Wins the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic
Saturday, October 10, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
After hours where (literally) nothing happened there were two quick eliminations following Eric Baldwin’s exit. Chase Steely moved in for about 500,000 after a Robert Mizrachi raise and Robert called with K-J to Steely’s pocket Queens. The flop came A-10-9, giving Mizrachi a gutshot draw (though Steely held two of the necessary Queens). The turn was a deuce and the river…the Qd, giving Mizrachi Broadway and sending Steely out in 3rd place (and with a $218,860 payday).
Heads-up play began with Hall holding the chiplead and he extended it when he called a 500K Mizrachi bet on the river and showed K-9 for King-high. Mizrachi could only show K-8, Brandon’s nine kicker played, and that gave him a 4.8M to 2.4M lead.
The end came almost immediately after, as the two got all the chips in the middle after an 8s-9h-2c flop. As the crowd pushed close Mizrachi revealed 9c-6c for top pair while Hall held Js-10d for an open-ended straight draw and overcards. The Jd gave Hall a bigger pair and the lead and when the Qd fell on the turn and gave Hall a straight it also gave him the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic championship.
Hall said he’d just endured a rough patch of play before turning it around recently and posting some solid results online. He can now add a major live tournament score to his poker resume, as Brandon Hall is the champion of the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic.
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October 11th, 2009 at 3:58 am
A big congrats to Brandon. Guts, smarts determination and a bit of luck found confluence in Aruba. Well done and see you there next year defending your title.
October 15th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
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