On Saturday night, Brandon AreTheseUtz Hall (pictured at right) became the champion of the 2009 Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic, defeating a field of 475 entrants. Hall was one of four members of the PocketFives.com online poker community to make the final table and chopped heads-up with Robert Mizrachi, brother of Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. Rain plagued the final table, but you won’t hear any complaints from Hall. Let’s take a look back at the final table of the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic.

Matt _cwp394_ Ross (pictured at left) was the first player eliminated from the seven-handed feature table. Ross shoved pre-flop with pocket sevens and received a call from Jose Santos, who held A-K. The door card and river both came aces, giving Santos trips and sending Ross, donning a Boston Celtics jersey, to the exits $41,000 richer for his wear. Eliminated in sixth place was Brock t soprano Parker, who 5bet all-in for his last 1.1 million chips with A-K of hearts. Eric basebaldy Baldwin made the call, turning over pocket queens for a race. The board came 2-2-6-8-10 and Parker was ousted.
Santos was eliminated in fifth place after calling all-in for his tournament life on a board of 3-K-5-4-K. His opponent, Chase Steely, turned over 6-7 for the nut straight and Santos promptly mucked, earning $92,000 for his fifth place showing. The hand vaulted Steely to the top of the chip counts. The next to go was Baldwin, who shoved pre-flop over the top of a raise by Mizrachi with A-Q. Mizrachi made the call and tabled A-7, dominated by Baldwin’s hole cards. However, the flop came seven-high, sending Mizrachi into the lead in the hand for good after delivering his three-outer.

Steely busted from the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic in third place, earning $218,000. Like Baldwin, Steely pushed over the top of a raise by Mizrachi pre-flop and Mizrachi made the call. Steely showed pocket queens, while Mizrachi flipped up K-J, noting before he made the call that he thought he was 40% to win the hand. The flop came A-10-9, giving Mizrachi a gutshot straight draw, but the turn came the deuce of clubs. Then, pandemonium struck, as one of the two remaining queens in the deck hit the river, giving Steely a set, but improving Mizrachi to a straight. The hand gave Mizrachi a 3:2 chip edge entering heads-up play against Hall.

Coverage found on Poker News noted that, after Hall went into the lead with 3.7 million chips to Mizrachi’s 3.3 million, the two players struck a deal, which had been talked about for quite some time. Each received the $414,000 second place prize plus a percentage of the remaining purse based on their chip count. In addition, the two played on for $30,000. Fifteen minutes after the deal was inked, Mizrachi (pictured at right) pushed all-in holding 9-6 after a flop of 8-9-2. Hall called with J-10 for a straight draw and the river came a queen, crowning the PocketFives.com member the newest champion of the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic.

Here were the official results of the 2009 Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic, which do not reflect the amount of the heads-up chip between Hall and Mizrachi:

1st Place: Brandon AreTheseUtz Hall - $753,330
2nd Place: Robert Mizrachi - $414,680
3rd Place: Chase Steely - $218,860
4th Place: Eric basebaldy Baldwin - $126,710
5th Place: Jose Roberto Santos - $92,150
6th Place: Brock t soprano Parker - $68,810
7th Place: Matt _cwp394_ Ross $41,470

Others who cashed included:

9th Place: John johnboiprodigy Clancy - $29,950
15th Place: Brent Astrolux85 Roberts - $18,430
16th Place: Travis TravestyFund Rice - $18,430
17th Place: Ty dabears87 Reiman - $18,430
19th Place: Larry BBOY3110 Sharp - $16,130
22nd Place: Scott yaboystu Stewart - $16,130
26th Place: Kevin Shumoney Kaikko - $13,820
27th Place: Matt Plattsburgh Vengrin - $13,820
28th Place: Jamie pokerjamers Armstrong - $13,820
32nd Place: Ryan papaGEORGIOOO Caldwell - $11,520
36th Place: Zach CrazyZachary Clark - $11,520

Visit our official Aruba Poker Classic coverage of online poker players to recap the 2009 festivities. Congratulations from all of us here at PocketFives.com to Brandon AreTheseUtz Hall for taking it down.