Brandon Hall, Robert Mizrachi Chop Aruba Poker Classic
The seven-handed final table of the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic concluded with a chop between online poker player Brandon “AreTheseUtz” Hall and Robert Mizrachi. Each banked $414,000 plus a percentage of their chip counts.
Matt “_cwp394_” Ross was the first to go from the final table of the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic, sent packing in seventh place for $41,000. Ross shoved pre-flop with a wired pair of sevens, but ran into Jose Santos’ A-K, setting up a race situation. An ace hit the flop, sending Santos into the lead for good in the hand, while another hit the river to improve Ross’ opponent to trips. Next to go was 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) dual bracelet winner Brock “t soprano” Parker, who was all-in pre-flop with A-K against Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin’s pocket queens. The board came five cards 10 or lower and Parker walked away with $66,000 for his sixth place showing.
Santos was bounced in fifth place, earning $92,000. Chase Steely bet enough to put Santos all-in on a board of 3-K-5-4-K and Santos called. Steely tabled 6-7 for the nut straight, while Santos quickly mucked; fifth place was worth $92,000. Baldwin was eliminated in fourth place from the 2009 Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic despite getting his chips in with A-Q against Mizrachi’s A-7. The flop came seven-high, propelling Mizrachi into the lead in the hand, and no help came for Baldwin on the turn or river.
Steely hit the skids in third place for $218,000. He pushed pre-flop with pocket queens and Mizrachi made the call with K-J. The flop came A-10-9, giving Steely a straight draw, which hit when a queen fell on the river. Live coverage found on Poker News painted the picture of the scene at the Radisson Aruba Resort and Casino when Mizrachi spiked his queen: “Steely bent at the waist as Matt Savage announced that Mizrachi had hit a straight on the end. Mizrachi looked sorry for Steely as he got up from his seat and shook his hand, wishing him a good game.”
Heads-up, a chop was agreed to whereby both players would pocket second place money, $414,000, and divide up the remaining prize pool based on chip totals. Then, Mizrachi and Hall would play on for $30,000 and the title of 2009 Aruba Poker Classic Champion. It took all of 15 minutes for the tournament to come to an end after a deal was agreed to, as Mizrachi pushed all-in with 9-6 on a flop of 8-9-2. Hall made the call, gambling with J-10 for an open-ended straight draw. The turn came a jack, giving Hall top pair, and a queen on the river improved him to a straight.
Here were the official payouts from the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic’s seven-handed final table:
1st Place: Brandon Hall - $753,330
2nd Place: Robert Mizrachi - $414,680
3rd Place: Chase Steely - $218,860
4th Place: Eric Baldwin - $126,710
5th Place: Jose Santos - $92,150
6th Place: Brock Parker - $68,810
7th Place: Matt Ross $41,470
A post on Ultimate Bet’s blog praised Hall for his victory: “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.” Hall won the $200,000 Guaranteed on Ultimate Bet for $45,000 in early August and finished second in the PokerStars Super Tuesday nine days later for $63,000.
Related Poker Tournaments News:
- WSOP Updates – Event 50, $10,000 PLO – Robert Mizrachi Claims Omaha World Championship
- The PokerNews Profile: Robert Mizrachi
- Michael Mizrachi Interview with Bernard Lee
- Brandon Hall of Littlestown, PA Takes Down UltimateBet’s $2.3 Million Aruba Poker Classic Main Event
- UltimateBet.com Aruba Poker Classic Day 4: Mizrachi, Parker and Baldwin Headline Final Table
- Robert Mizrachi – Poker Player Profile
- Online Poker Recap: Four-way Chop in Stars Super Tuesday
- Online Poker Weekend: A Poker Stars Chop-Chop-Chop
- 2010 World Series of Poker Day 4: Mizrachi brothers at final table, Rosewood leads Event #4 and more players sit down for NLHE
- More Team UB.com Tweets from the WSOP
- The Nightly Turbo: Mizrachi Joins DeepStacks Live, Ivey’s Still the Nuts, and More
- Online Poker Weekend: Three-way Chop in Sunday Million
Useful poker information:
- STAND OFF - To call a raise. "Opener raises, I stand off".
- GUT SHOT - A draw to an inside straight, as in 2-3-4-6.
- EXPECTATION - The long-run [dis-]advantage of a given situation, specifically without reference to any particular outcome. I.e., what you figure to win [lose] on average after a large number of repetitions of the same situation.
- SHOWDOWN - The point at the end of the hand where all active players reveal their cards and the pot is awarded to the winner(s).
- TELL - Any personal mannerisms that reveal the quality of one's hand. E.g., constantly looking at one's hole cards is often a tell of a poor hand. (Some players, knowing this, will at times check their hole cards when they have a great hand and don't need to look.)
- FAVORITE - Before all the cards are dealt, a hand that figures to be the winner. Ant: UNDERDOG.
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