Pretty Shiny Things

Friday, October 9, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

The Main Event of the Aruba Poker Classic is playing out in the Radisson ballroom, but there’s another high-stakes event playing out even as we speak (well, type). Upstairs in the Radisson lobby is the big Mercedes sit-n-go. Ten players took to the felt outside to play for this sweet, sweet ride.

Among the players vying for the right to sit behind the wheel? Shawn Rice and P0ker H0, who’s had his eyes on this prize from the moment he set foot on the island. Now he gets his chance as they play a winner-take-all sit-n-go for the keys to a fine piece of Teutonic engineering.

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Travis Rice Eliminated

Friday, October 9, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

No player has ever won two Aruba Poker Classics and that will remain so in 2009, as Travis Rice was just eliminated in 16th place. The 2007 Champion wasn’t able to make a big move late and even after doubling up through John Clancy still found himself near the bottom of the leaderboard. After Charlie Hook opened and Brandon Hall re-raised Rice moved in for his last 200,000 chips. Hook mucked but Hall made the call with pocket Queens to Rice’s Ah-10h. The board brought Rice no help and as Tournament Director Matt Savage announced his elimination the crowd gave our former champion a round of applause.

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Reversal of Fortune

Friday, October 9, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

e went quite a long time without losing a player before Ty Reiman was eliminated in 17th place. Reiman had a rough go of it at the end, losing a race to Eric Baldwin, another race to James Jewett, and then losing his last 450,000 with QQ to Eric Baldwin’s KK. Just that fast Reiman went from one of the chip leaders to out of the tournament in 17th place. Cruel game, sometimes.

Here are the most recent eliminations:

And here are the current chip counts:

Robert Mizrachi – 920,000
Eric Baldwin – 920,000
Brandon Hall – 770,000
Max Greenwood – 563,000
Jose Santos – 550,000
David Perkins – 420,000
Charlie Hook – 410,000
John Clancy – 345,000
Brock Parker – 345,000
Brent Roberts – 345,000
Ryan Schmidt – 310,000
Matthew Ross – 290,000
Chase Steely – 252,000
Travis Rice – 225,000
James Jewett – 220,000
James Mordue – 120,000

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Ole!

Friday, October 9, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

I thought I recognized Roberto Santos from once upon a time, I figured he’d made a deep run in Aruba once before and it turned out I was right. He finished 17th back in 2006…that’s three years ago, and I still remember him. That may be due in part to his rather enthusiastic approach to poker and his rather vocal cheering section. Every time he’s in a big hand Roberto stands and shouts something in Spanish and his extended cheering section stands and starts shouting back. I don’t speak Spanish but it sounds like they’re all having a lot of fun. Roberto certainly was having fun last night when he moved all-in and had his opponent fold. Roberto looked at me and said, “Camera!” and showed me his cards.

OK, Roberto actually had a flush draw there, it wasn’t a total kamikaze play. He’s been battling along today and recently doubled up through Max Greenwood then won a big pot from James Mordue. Here’s Roberto after his big double-up:

Roberto currently has around 500,000 and will almost certainly improve on his 17th-place finishing of three years ago (there are 17 players left right now). And if he keeps playing this way there may be a very vocal contingent of Santos supporters around the pool tomorrow afternoon.

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Updated Chip Counts

Friday, October 9, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

We’re down to 21 players, we’ve just started Level 16 (2,500-5,000 blinds with a 500 ante) and here are the chip counts as they currently stand (thanks to our eagle-eyed friends at PokerNews). As you can see Brent Roberts has caught up to Robert Mizrachi, and James Mordue and Travis Rice seem primed for a possible return visit to the final table:

Brent Roberts – 710,000
Robert Mizrachi – 700,000
Ty Reiman – 695,000
Max Greenwood – 640,000
Eric ‘basebaldy’ Baldwin – 460,000
James Mordue – 450,000
Matthew Ross – 415,000
Travis ‘TravestyFund’ Rice – 385,000
Brandon Hall – 330,000
Ryan Schmidt – 315,000
Charlie Hook – 310,000
Brock Parker – 290,000
Jose Roberto Santos – 200,000
David Perkins – 175,000
James Jewett – 161,000
Michael DeGilio – 150,000
Scott ‘yaboystu’ Stewart – 145,000
Chase Steely – 145,000
John Venturini – 100,000
Larry Sharp – 85,000
John Clancy – 75,000
Anthony Angora – 60,000

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Matt Vengrin Eliminated

Friday, October 9, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

When you’re all-in for your tournament life, and THREE people call, you’re either holding the nuts and grinning ear-to-ear or you’re packing up your gear because you know you’re screwed. Unfortunately for AP’s Matt Vengrin he found himself in the latter scenario, after he lost a huge hand to Charlie Hook where Matt held Queens to Charlie’s Ace-King. The flop was safe for Matt but aces hit on the turn and river to give Hook the pot and leave Matt with just a few thousand chips.

He was all-in on the next hand and had to sit there while the other players completed the hand. Hook was again in the pot along with James Mordue and James Czarnecki, and after the river Czarnecki bet 30,000.Mordue got out of the way and Hook took some time deciding whether to call. While Matt had to stand and wait for his fate to be sealed.

In the end Hook called and the two pair he flopped with 10-4 were enough to crack Czarnecki’s pocket Aces. Matt mucked his cards and shook hands with the players at his table, obviously disappointed that he wasn’t able to improve upon his 27th-place finish. Still, another deep run in Aruba for Matt, and if he’d just been able to fade the turn and river cards in that race with Hook…but that’s poker.

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The Quick AND the Dead

Friday, October 9, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Today’s a beautiful day even for Aruba. You kinda get used to the brilliant blue sky and aquamarine water and the endless  sunshine and cool breezes…but walking on the beach this morning, wow. Everything was bluer and aquamarinier than usual, the sun on my face and breeze ruffling my hair felt like a little bit ‘o heaven.

And so far the 36 players who returned to play at the Aruba Poker Classic are playing like they wanna chip up or go the beach NOW. We’ve been playing for less than an hour and we’ve already lost nine players. Twenty-seven players remain and the folks on this list aren’t among them:

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The Road to the Final Table

Friday, October 9, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Play has just resumed for the 36 players left in the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic, and here are the chip counts as we returned to action today. Just a reminder, we’re playing at 6 six-handed tables, and we’ll keep playing until we get down to the final six who will play at the final table constructed over the Radisson pool tomorrow.

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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:

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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:

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