Home / Poker News October 2009 / Aruba Poker Classic Day 3 – Mizrachi still on top
Aruba Poker Classic Day 3 – Mizrachi still on top
Posted by: James Carter. - Mon, 2009-10-12 14:00
Day 3 of Ultimate Bet’s Aruba Poker classic saw a field of 86 players return to the tables, and while the sun was shining and the weather was just right for all sorts of water related entertainment outside, inside the Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino and Spa, a storm was brewing. This storm would eventually claim the tournament lives of 50 of the 86 players, leaving a field of 36 alive to do battle on day 4.
Robert Mizrachi had finished day 2 in the chip lead, having amassed 353,200 chips. He continued to add to that stack all day long on day 3 and he never let anyone assume the chip lead even for a short while. He eventually finished with 743,500 chips, well ahead of the nearest pursuer.
Phil Hellmuth’s elimination was one of main stories of the day. The
Ultimate Bet pro got hit bad in a hand in which he got all his chips in on pocket rockets. Two other players went to showdown with him: John Venturini who held Ac, Kc and Jonathan Lessin who had pocket Ks. The flop looked good for Hellmuth as the Q,Q,9 maintained him in the lead. The 10 on the turn was OK too, but as he kept begging the dealer “not to do it”, a K fell on the river to give Lessin a set and the main pot. The side pot went to Hellmuth but he was left seriously crippled anyway.
He got it all in a mere few ands later, holding Ah, Kh and got called by John Venturini who had pocket As that time. The interesting thing about the hand that led to Hellmuth’s crippling was that the K on the river was a one outer for Lessin.
Matt Brady, who had won the event last year started day 3 in a rather precarious position: he was a short-stack, getting along on 34,500 chips. Although he never really managed to firmly shake the short-stack status off his back, he offered railbirds and opponents a lesson on short stacked poker through the day. He eventually made it into the money and finished with 50,000 chips.
Others weren’t quite as savvy and many of the “name” players still alive at the beginning of the day wrecked their stacks before the money bubble. Shawn Rice, Gavin Smith and Casey Castle were among these players.
