Aruba Poker Classic
Sunday, October 18, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
When you play in a tournament like the Aruba Poker Classic there’s a chance you could win life-changing money. First prize this year was around $750,000; last year it was a cool million. That’s a nice chunk of change no matter what your current bank balance is. Even if you “only” make the final table you’re walking away with more money than the average American family takes in during the year.
But poker doesn’t always have about high-stakes action, and it doesn’t take a huge sum of money to make a difference in someone’s life. Most people play poker for fun, believe it or not, even big-time pros who are used to risking huge sums on the turn of a card. And sometimes it can be fun to lose money at poker, especially when the money you’re kissing goodbye will be used to help people in need. This year in Aruba UltimateBet hosted a charity event to benefit the Children’s Home Imeldahof, which provides a temporary home and support for children who can’t remain in their homes due to mental, physical or sexual abuse. There was a big turnout for the $100 with rebuys charity event and the players were not at all shy about pulling out their bankrolls and giving till it hurts. It was a chance to have some fun, play with our Team UB pros, and raise some money for some kids in need:
In total $18,220 was raised from the tournament, as $11,700 was raised from the entries and rebuys, $5,000 was donated by UltimateBet, and the winners of the tournament contributed $1,520. At the Awards Banquet a check was presented to the director of the Children’s Home Imeldahof and she thanked those who contributed to the donation and told the crowd about the home’s mission:
Poker players often complain about their bad luck but it’s important to remember that many people have it much, much worse. Charity tournaments like the fundraiser for the Children’s Home Imeldahof serve as a reminder of how fortunate many of us are and how rewarding it can be to help those who need that help the most.
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Monday, October 12, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
Home sweet home. That’s what a lot of people who attended the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic have been saying the last day or so as we wended our ways home. Don’t get me wrong, who doesn’t LOVE being in Aruba? I know I did, especially when I got home to Pittsburgh last night and the temperature was 38 degrees. And I was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. You bet I was missing Aruba then.
But a week on the island can take a toll, can it not? What with the non-stop poker and partying and sunshine and swimming it taxes even the strongest constitutions. I bet lots of folks who spent the last week in Aruba are taking today to regroup, to let their sunburned skin and overextended livers recover. God knows I am.
I’m also reveling in a hard and fast internet connection, something we didn’t always have in Aruba. I spent much of Sunday morning yelling at my computer, begging it to let me upload photos of the Awards Banquet held Saturday night. I figured that party would be more low-key that the Welcome Party of a week before, though full-on soccer riot would probably be more low-key than that party had been. And indeed things started off quite mellow, with a smaller crowd enjoying drinks and dinner and the end of the tournament.
The newly-minted champion of the Aruba Poker Classic, Brandon Hall, briefly addressed the crowd and thanked Tournament Director Matt Savage’s staff for running such a great tournament and accepted the congratulations of the crowd for his victory:
In keeping with the Roman theme of UltimateBet’s Tenth Anniversary celebration there was a procession of glittering models who walked through the crowd and posed with the partygoers (some of those pics may not be, uh, suitable for publication):
Phil Hellmuth chatted with the crowd before introducing the evening’s entertainment–The Dan Band. And they were awesome (I shot some video which I’ll post over the next day or so) and got the crowd in a dancing mood:
And as the evening wore on more people got in the pool and we started to see more scenes like these:
And that’s when the party got a bit…spirited, with roving gangs roaming through the crowd and tossing dozens of people into the drink. Some of these people went willingly, others were a bit demonstrative in their opposition. Usually when I sort through my photos I look for things like composition and clarity, but with some of the pics from the party I may have to take ethical considerations into account before I work on them. Like, “would this person be appalled if I posted this pic?” I usually take a conservative approach to such things so the more voyeuristic among you might be disaapointed. Though not with this pic of Liv Boeree and Robbie Cunningham, who worked on their synchronized swimming routine all year:
I’ll be posting more items about Aruba all week, trying to catch up with everything that went on during that whirlwind week. But now I’m gotta scrape the frost of my car and then I’m probably gonna have a little cry. Aruba…miss you already.
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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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Saturday, October 10, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
Once play resumed there weren’t many major confrontations before Brandon Hall and Eric Baldwin contested a huge pot. Hall opened for 90,000, Baldwin re-raised to 275,000 and Hall moved in for almost 1.4 million. Baldwin had Hall’s stack counted down, ran the numbers in his head, and announced a call.
Eric’s Ac-10 needed help against Hall’s Jh-Js and he found none on the Q-9-7-3-9 board, and that hand doubled Hall to nearly 3 million and left Baldwin with just 200,000 chips.
Which he quickly ran up to 700,000 with double-ups against Hall and Robert Mizrachi, and it looked like Baldwin would double again when he was again all in with Mizrachi holding A-Q to Mizrachi’s A-7. But the flop came 4s-7s-2c, and when the turn and river didn’t bring a Queen Baldwin was out in fourth place, good for a $126,710 payday.
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Saturday, October 10, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
The four players left in the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic have been discussing a deal for well over a half-hour now. They’re talking about chopping the money along some intricately-negotiated lines and saving about $100,00 to play for. This is perhaps the longest chop-talk I’ve ever seen and it ain’t over yet. And the clock has been running the whole time–if they can’t work it out (or if they do and play for money set aside) the blinds will be going up soon after play resumes. Provide play DOES resume, eventually.
While we wait, a picture of the Radisson’s resident cat (yes, he lives there, has a cat-condo on the premises and everything).
UPDATE: No deal. The players couldn’t agree to terms so after nearly an hour of talk we’re gonna play some cards.
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Saturday, October 10, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
The four players left in the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic seem prepared to turn this into a war of attrition. The biggest hand of the last hour came when Brandon Hall doubled up with Queens to Chase Steely’s pocket Tens. That gave Hall a 1.4 million stack and and bunched the players together even more. Here are the chip counts as we go on a break:
Robert Mizrachi – 2,300,000
Eric Baldwin – 2,250,000
Brandon Hall – 1,450,000
Chase Steely – 1,400,000
While we’re on break a few logistical issues have to be addressed–namely, the table has to be moved under the roof a few feet so Eric Baldwin and Brandon Hall don’t get broiled alive by the setting sun. Though imminent sunstroke would probably help spur the action Tournament Director Matt Savage doesn’t seem to think that’s a good idea so they’ll inch the table under Gilligan’s roof before play resumes.
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Saturday, October 10, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
Perhaps no player who made it past the first day had more fun that Roberto Santos. Cheered on by an (extremely) enthusiastic band of supporters Santos enjoyed bantering in Spanish with his friends on the rail and showing off his bluffs to the crowd and indulging in wild histrionics when he won a big hand.
He came to the final table very short in chips but after picking up an early pot was able to eliminate Matt Ross and nearly double up. Brock Parker’s elimination meant Santos jumped another spot in the money list but he needed a double-up (or two, or three) to mount a serious challenge for the Aruba Poker Classic title.
After Chase Steely called in the small blind Santos chose to check his option and the two saw a 3c-Kc-5s flop. Steely bet 26,000 and Santos called. The 4d came on the river and when Steely again bet, this time 68,000, Santos again called. This left him just 150,000 behind and you figured that no matter what fell on the river those chips were going in the middle.
It was the Kh the dealer set on the felt and out of turn Santos moved his stack forward as if to indicate he was all in. While Steely looked the situation over and asked Santos if he was all in. Santos asked Steely if he’d checked and Chase said he hadn’t. The two looked at each other for a few moments more before Steely said, “I’m all in.”
Roberto made the call and that’s when Chase turned over the 6s-7c for the turned straight. All Santos could do was throw his cards into the muck and turn around to accept the congratulations of his friends and shake his opponents’ hands. He wins $92,150 for his fifth-place finish.
That hand put Steely up over the two-million chip mark, and he and Eric Baldwin are neck-and-neck for the chip lead. Robert Mizrachi has around 1.9 million and Brandon Hall around 1.1 million, so the stacks have consolidated a bit and it’s still anybody’s ballgame.
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Saturday, October 10, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
I mentioned in my last post that Roberto Santos was running good this week with Ace-King and in fact it seems like every time there’s been a race late in the tournament it’s the overcards that’ve won against the pocket pair. But Brock Parker and Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin just played the biggest pot of the tourney so far and this time Big Slick failed to deliver.
After Baldwin opened for 40,000 Parker re-popped it to 125,000. Baldwin then made it 300,000 to go and after sitting quietly for a moment Parker announced he was as all-in for an additional 1.1 million. Baldwin asked for a count, saying that he was almost sure that he was going to call, and after a minute’s contemplation that’s what he did. He turned over pocket Queens and Parker showed the Ace-King of hearts, and the two players grinned at each other as their suspicions about each other’s cards were confirmed.
In the past this is when the dealer would spread an Ace on the flop, but not this time, and when the board ran out 2s-2c-6h-8d-10s Baldwin scooped up a massive 2.7 million pot and Parker, the winner of two WSOP bracelets this year and the inaugural UltimateBet Online Championships Main Event, was our sixth-place finisher, pocketing $66,810.
Here are the current chip counts, courtesy of PokerNews:
Eric Baldwin – 2,700,000
Robert Mizrachi – 2,198,000
Chase Steely – 1,145,000
Brandon Hall – 530,000
Jose Santos – 340,000
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Saturday, October 10, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
We stopped play last night with 7 players remaining so we could end at a decent hour, and it didn’t take long for us to lose the player who turned out to be unlucky number seven. Matt Ross moved in for the last of his chips and Roberto Santos asked for a count. Once that was done he announced a call and his Ace-King were racing against Ross’ pocket sevens. Santos has run really good with Ace-King this week and this hand was no exception, as there was an Ace on the flop that thrilled Roberto’s supporters and left Ross staring at his impending doom.
The turn didn’t provide a seven and when the river brought another Ace it was time to celebrate for Santos and time to say goodbye to Matt Ross.
Ross wins $41,470 for his seven-place finish and here are the chip counts for our six remaining players:
Robert Mizrachi – 2,100,000
Eric Baldwin – 1,520,000
Chase Steely – 1,220,000
Brock Parker – 1,000,000
Brandon Hall – 560,000
Roberto Santos – 492,000
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Saturday, October 10, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
We woke to gray skies here in Aruba and the clouds have been giving up their rain all morning. It’s wet and gloomy and generally miserable, and that means that we’re going to have a change of location for today’s final table. We were supposed to start at noon and come hell or high water, we’re starting at noon. In fact we just heard an announcement that play will begin in four minutes–so if you’re playing at the final table you’d better get there.NOW.
We were supposed to play on the stage built over the Radisson pool, but with the rain that’s not feasible. At least not now. So, we’re going to relocate the final table to Gilligan’s restaurant right next to the pool and see how that works. If the rain moves off (and at the moment that’s a big if) we may move the action to the stage at some point during play. But right now the final table will be played at Gilligan’s and I’m headed there right now to see the start of play.
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