Home / Poker News October 2009 / Aruba Poker Classic, Day 5: Brandon Hall triumphs
Aruba Poker Classic, Day 5: Brandon Hall triumphs
Posted by: James Carter. - Tue, 2009-10-13 08:25
The final table of the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic had been scheduled to take place outdoors, over a pool, however the weather had other ideas and the continuous rain meant that organizers had to find an alternative location for the conclusion of the tournament.
Gilligan’s, a restaurant with a tent for protection against the rain was chosen and it didn’t take long for the last leg of the APC action to commence.
Robert Mizrachi started the final table in the chip lead and Jose Roberto Santos started as the short-stack.
The first victim of the final table was Matt Ross, himself a short-stack. Ross got his last chips into the middle on a pair of 7s he’d picked up and was called by Santos, the other short-stack, with A,K. The board cracked Ross’ pocket pair and he was done in 7th.
Brock Parker had started the day on a rather hefty stack, yet he would be the next to go. Parker got into a preflop re-raising give and take with Eric Baldwin, which resulted in all the chips going into the middle. The coin-toss was set as Baldwin’s pocket Qs went up against Parker’s Ah, Kh. The board was merciless for Parker as it landed a bunch of bricks, denying him the double-up and sending him to the rail in 6th place.
Jose Santos pampered his short stack along for a while though it soon became obvious he had nowhere left to go. Cornered, he shoved all-in against Chase Steely and picked up his $92,150 for his 5th place finish.
After the break, the remaining players began discussing a deal. They nearly reached an agreement when Eric Baldwin decided not to settle and the action was on again. Baldwin should’ve taken that deal as it turned out he would be the next player to hit the rail.
He put the last of his chips into the middle, holding an A,Qo against Robert Mizrachi’s A,7o on a flop of 4,7,2. The remaining two streets failed to help him and he was out in 4th. Riding the momentum of Baldwin’s elimination, Mizrachi proceeded to bounce Steely in 3rd, setting up the heads-up stage of the event.
The two remaining players reached a deal, and the action got underway again. It took Hall about 15 minutes to dispose of Mizrachi. The final hand of the
poker tournament saw Mizrachi’s 9,6 sunk by Hall’s J,10o.
