Many people look forward to this time of the year. A big reason for this is the UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic. What could be better than sippin' on some tropical beverages and enjoying a picture perfect sunset while on a gorgeous beach? Well, maybe sippin' on some tropical beverages enjoying a picture perfect sunset while on a gorgeous beach, AND competing for a $2.5 million dollar prize-pool. <READMORE> Court, who is covering the Aruba Classic on PocketfivesLive told me that, "Aruba is always a great tournament. Lots of good poker, and a great atmoshpere at and away from the tables. It has the feel of a reunion, with lots of the online players getting to see each other in person after playing with them and talking online almost daily."

Last year, the final table was saturated with big name P5'ers. Sorel "Imperium" Mizzi finished in 10th, and Alec "traheho" Torelli in 8th. Sumeet "Batera" Batra took 7th, and unfortunately was eliminated just before the start of the TV final table. The remaining six found themselves competing for serious money with first place being just short of $750K. Joe Sebok was knocked out in 5th, followed by Jared "MajicRat" Brintz in 4th. 3rd place was claimed by Terry "Asiandude7" Eischens (pictured left). Most of us remember who took 2nd, but just in case I'll remind you. It was Cliff "Johnny Bax" Josephy (pictured at top) and he won $446,975 for his efforts. In the end though, it was Devon Miller who was victorious and walked off into the sunset with $744,960.

This year, the tournament started Oct. 2nd at noon. Over 80 P5'ers signed up for live coverage through PocketfivesLive, so you can bet that Court has his hands full. Many of the players that registered can be found in the Aruba thread that is stickied to the front page of Poker Discussion. It shouldn't be hard to find a favorite player to follow in this $5,000 event. With so many P5'ers participating, surely an intriguing or inspiring story will materialize in the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled. To everyone in Aruba, GL and bring home a win, we'll be watching.
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