The End Comes Quickly

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

We were stuck on 39 players for a bit…and then we weren’t stuck no more, as three players were eliminated in quick succession to get us down to our final 36. The players are re-drawing for their new six-handed tables and play will resume tomorrow at noon. Among the players who will make an assault on the final table tomorrow are defending champion Matt Brady, 2007 winner Travis Rice, James Mordue, Eric Baldwin, “Tahoe” Andrew, Zachary Clark, and Robert Mizrachi, our chip leader, whose approximately 750,000 stack is around 300,000 more than any other player.

Here, alas, is the list of the final final few players who went out at the end of play today:

37	$ 9,210	John Strzemp
38	$ 9,210	Oscar Esteban
39	$ 9,210	Alex Wendell

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Almost There

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

We’re down to 39 players and after we lose three more play will stop for the night. That might take awhile as players try to gut it out till we hit the magic 36 or they pick up a hand they can play for all their chips. Here’s a list of the players who weren’t able to hang on long after the bubble burst:

40	$9,210	Mike Collins
41	$9,210	Joe Le
42	$9,210	Marc Levy
43	$9,210	Anthony Kastelic
44	$9,210	Jonathan Lessin
45	$9,210	Vassil Kakaradov

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Here the Money

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Don’t think I posted this earlier but here’s the complete payout list for the Aruba Poker Classic, now that we’re in the money and everyone still in the tournament will walk about with enough profit to at least make this a doggone nice vacation, if they don’t make it into the truly life-changing money:

1	$ 753,330
2	$ 414,680
3	$ 218,860
4	$ 126,710
5	$ 92,150
6	$ 66,810
7	$ 41,470
8	$ 41,470
9	$ 29,950
10	$ 29,950
11	$ 23,040
12	$ 23,040
13	$ 18,430
14	$ 18,430
15	$ 18,430
16	$ 18,430
17	$ 18,430
18	$ 18,430
19	$ 16,130
20	$ 16,130
21	$ 16,130
22	$ 16,130
23	$ 16,130
24	$ 16,130
25	$ 13,850
26	$ 13,850
27	$ 13,850
28	$ 13,850
29	$ 13,850
30	$ 13,850
31	$ 11,520
32	$ 11,520
33	$ 11,520
34	$ 11,520
35	$ 11,520
36	$ 11,520
37	$ 9,210
38	$ 9,210
39	$ 9,210
40	$ 9,210
41	$ 9,210
42	$ 9,210
43	$ 9,210
44	$ 9,210
45	$ 9,210

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The Bubble Bursts

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Sometimes it takes hours for the money bubble to burst in a poker tournament; sometimes it takes just a hand or two. And that’s how it played out here in Aruba, as it took just two rounds of hand-for-hand play to determine who would be the 2009 Bubble Boy.

And, sadly, it was the extremely-well-dressed Vincent Moscasti who went out in 46th-place, who pushed in his last 10,000 chips into the middle holding As-10c. He couldn’t have liked it much when John Venturini re-raised to isolate, and Vincent probably felt a damn sight worse when Venturini tabled the Ac-Ad. Vincent needed a miracle but didn’t get one as the board ran out Kc-5c-7s-3s-Qh to send him away empty-handed.

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No Reversal of Fortune

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Some days you live by the Aces, some days you die by the Aces. The latter held true for Phil Hellmuth as, after failing to nearly triple-up holding pocket rockets, he busted about 30 minutes later when he ran the Ace-King of hearts into John Venturini’s Aces. Venturini was in that big hand with Phil with Hellmuth holding Aces and Venturini Big Slick, and after a Qh-4s-5d flop the turn came the 6h to give Phil the nut flush draw and a prayer of surviving and doubling up.

But the river brought the Qc and ended Phil’s run. And there was no explosion, Phil shook everyone’s hand and headed for the door, no doubt wondering what might’ve been had that one big hand gone his way.

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Don’t Read This On a Full Stomach

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Say what you will about Phil Hellmuth, he usually gets his money in good. You’re not often going to see him donking off a ton of chips with some goofball hand in a weird spot. Phil knows how to wait. He can be patient. He can wait, in his own words, “two (deleted) days!” to get his chips in the middle holding a dominant position.

Which is what happened in a huge hand just a few minutes ago. The chips went in the middle before the flop and Phil held pocket Aces to John Venturini’s Ac-Kc and Jonathan Lessin’s pocket Kings. Phil looked to be in good shape to win a huge pot that would vault him up the leaderboard, and as he jumped out of his chair and shouted, “Hold up!!” a big crowd gathered around Table 6 to see the hand play out.

The Qh-Qs-9c flop brought little danger. But the 10c hit on the turn and that gave Venturini a flush draw and both Phil’s opponent’s a gutshot to boot. “Oh no!” Phil said, circling in place before turning back to see the river card.

I think this picture will give you an idea of what transpired:

The river was the case King, winning the pot for Lessin. Who actually had the smallest stack among the three players in the pot and so Phil nearly broke even. But after waiting “two (deleted) days” for Aces and a chance to win a big pot, the opportunity that went wanting stung Phil bad. He still has around 30,000 chips.

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Updated Chip Counts

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Via our fellow media-row denziens from PokerNews, here are the top ten chipstacks with 62 players left in the field. Again, we’ll keep playing until we get down to 36 players and then tomorrow we’ll play six-handed until we reach the final table.

1	Robert	Mizrachi	402,000
2	Eric	Baldwin	249,000
3	Ty	Reiman	227,000
4	James	Mordue	225,000
5	Matt	Ross	222,000
6	Travis	Rice	220,000
7	Jamie	Armstrong	209,000
8	Jon	Favaloro	198,000
9	James	Czarnecki	197,000
10	Brock	Parker	189,000

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In and Out

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Before I post pics of the players who are still in the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic, I must sadly announce that two members of Team UB were sent to the rail in the last five minutes. Shawn moved in on the turn with A-J and an Ace on the board, only to be called by Charlie Hook holding A-Q. Here’s a pic of Shawn moving all in a bit earlier in the day (this time around he didn’t get a call).

Scott Ian went out just a moment later, losing with A-8 to A-Q, all-in before the flop.

Our two most recent champions are still in the field–last year’s winner Matt Brady:

And the 2007 champion, Travis Rice:

And our two most recent runners-up are still in the hunt. Last year’s bridesmaid Johan Storakers:

And James Mordue, who came second to Travis Rice in 2007:

With Scott and Shawn’s eliminations only two members of the Team UB/AP family are still in the tournament. One is Matt Vengrin (who bubbled the final table here in 2007):

And some guy named Phil Hellmuth, who I understand has had some success at this poker thing:

We just went on our first break, when we return blinds will be 1000-2000 with a 300 ante. Chip updates to come, and our internet access is a wee bit better today. Cross your fingers, say a prayer, etc.

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Day 3 Chip Counts

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

We’re about 15 minutes away from the start of Day 3 of the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic and 86 players will drag themselves off the beach and take their seats in the Radisson ballroom. Robert Mizrachi returns to play today as the chip leader, boasting a monster 353,000 stack. Jon Favaloro came into play yesterday as the chip leader and continued his strong play, as he now sits second with 255,000. Defending champion Matt Brady is still in the hunt, as is 2007 winner Travis Rice, and players such as Phil Hellmuth, Shawn Rice, Scott Ian, Matt Vengrin, Gavin Smith, Eric Baldwin, James Mordue, Zachary Clark and Johan Storakers will take their seats at noon.

Here are the complete chip counts, and when play resumes the blinds will be 800-1600 with a 200 ante We’re going to play today until the field has been reduced to 36 players.

1	Robert	Mizrachi	353,200
2	Jon	Favaloro	255,300
3	Ty	Reiman	226,900
4	Matthew	Ross	222,300
5	James	Mordue	207,700
6	James	Czarnecki	197,300
7	David	Perkins	191,500
8	Eric	Baldwin	166,400
9	Max	Greenwood	152,800
10	Ryan	Caldwell	146,900
11	Brandon	Hall	129,900
12	Travis	Rice	128,600
13	Zack	Clark	127,000
14	Tristan	Wade	126,300
15	Alex	Wendell	119,200
16	Krystian	Pinzon	117,900
17	Matt	Vengrin	116,700
18	John	Venturini	115,500
19	Dorian	Rios	114,300
20	Andy	Rich	113,600
21	John	Clancy	112,500
22	Vassil	Kararadov	112,100
23	Jamie	Armstrong	111,200
24	Brent	Roberts	111,200
25	John	Strzemp	107,600
26	William	Cruz	101,500
27	Brock	Parker	95,600
28	Adam	Boghosian	94,500
29	Victor	Ng	92,500
30	Kevin	Kaikko	90,900
31	Kazu	Oshima	88,000
32	Barry	Hamilton	84,700
33	David	Sands	82,400
34	Tyson	Marks	80,600
35	James	Jewett	76,200
36	Joe	Le	76,000
37	Michael	DeGilio	75,400
38	John	Hayes	74,100
39	Antonis	Poulengrus	73,600
40	Elias	Haikal	72,200
41	Charlie	Hook	71,000
42	Marc	Levy	70,500
43	Scott	Brewer	69,400
44	Justin	Truesdell	64,400
45	Anthony	Angora	62,300
46	Larry	Sharp	60,300
47	Elliott	Flint-Petersen	56,300
48	Jonathan	Lessih	55,600
49	Anthony	Kastelic	54,500
50	Vincent	Moscati	53,100
51	Jeffrey	Vanchiro	53,100
52	Tony	Callom	52,000
53	Johan	Storakers	50,600
54	Ryan	Howard	50,300
55	Ryan	Schmidt	50,200
56	Mike	Collins	48,200
57	Roch	Cousineau	47,300
58	Katherine	Cagle	47,000
59	Gavin	Smith	45,700
60	Alessandro	Nocerino	45,100
61	Sol	Bergren	43,400
62	Al	Riccobono	42,000
63	Phil	Hellmuth	41,600
64	Scott	Ian	40,300
65	Brandon	Terry	38,400
66	Joe	Rohinsky	37,800
67	Matt	Brady	34,500
68	Jose Roberto	Santos	34,500
69	Howard “Tahoe”	Andrew	34,400
70	Vanessa	Peng	34,400
71	Frank	Hernandez	32,900
72	William	Sheridan	32,200
73	Scott	Stewart	30,500
74	Casey	Kastle	30,400
75	Oscar	Esteban	30,300
76	Tom	Braband	30,100
77	Anton	Talle	29,700
78	Tim	West	29,400
79	James	Honeybone	29,000
80	Hans	Bennett	27,300
81	Shawn	Rice	23,500
82	Susan	Moncek	20,600
83	Chase	Steely	19,900
84	Joseph	Knight	19,400
85	Hunter	Frey	18,500
86	Joe	Mosca	8,400

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And That’s a Wrap

Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Day 2 is in the books, with 87 players still alive in the Aruba Poker Classic. Including Phil Hellmuth, Scott Ian, Shawn Rice, and Matt Vengrin. Oh, and Matt Brady, Robert Mizrachi, Gavin Smith, Brock Parker, Tim West, James Mordue, Travis Rice, and James Honeybone. We’ll be back to play tomorrow at high noon. God willing (and yes, I will be praying) our internet access will be a bit more robust tomorrow and we can publish a lot more posts and pics.