Day 3 at the UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic was a quick one. The action began right at noon local time with 85 players remaining for the push to the money. After about three and a half levels, just 36 of them remained to bag their chips for the overnight soak.
It was a bloodbath early on as 20 players failed to make it out of the first 90-minute level alive. More than a dozen fell during the next round as the money approached, including a whole laundry list of notable pros. Some of those who would make Day 3 but fail to earn a payday included Gavin Smith, Al Riccobono, Tyson Marks, Tim "tmay420" West, James Honeybone, Frank "gator93" Hernandez, Susie "SusieQue" Moncek, and David "Doc Sands" Sands. Also falling by the wayside were Team UB Pros Scott Ian, Shawn Rice, and -- much to his disgruntlement -- Phil Hellmuth.
On the flip side of things, Robert Mizrachi came into this third day with the chip lead, and there would be no changing that today. The only movement from Mizrachi was upwards, and he's stuffed his chip bag with 743,500 technicolor chips. That's good enough to make him the clear favorite going forward, leading the field by a cavernous margin with two days of play left.
The 36 who remain will come back for Day 4 tomorrow at noon, and things will be a little different in the tournament room. We'll be six-handed from here on out, so the action should be plentiful. Until then, goodnight from Aruba.
According to James Czarnecki, Adam Boghosian opened before John Strzemp moved all in. Boghosian made the call and showed . Strzemp held pocket jacks.
Boghosian went on to make a flush after flopping both a flush draw and a straight draw to send Strzemp home in 37th place and send everyone home for the day.
Oscar Esteban got the rest of his chips into the middle preflop holding , and Jon Favaloro looked him up with the covering stack and , racing for the knockout.
The dealer ran out a board of , and Favaloro's ace on the river was good enough to secure the pot. Esteban's cheering section on the rail had applauded in celebration when the flop and turn were safe for their guy, but they fell silent when the river hit, and Esteban made his way quietly to the exit door.
Matt Ross raised to 8,000 before Alex Wendell moved all in for 65,500 total. Action folded quickly back around to Ross and he called with . Wendell held two tens -- .
Ross smacked a king on the river when the board ran out to send Wendell home in 39th place. Two more eliminations and the players will be done for the day.
Ryan Schmidt bet out 18,000 into a 55,000-chip pot on a board of . Matt Vengrin was his lone opponent in the hand and put in a raise to 38,000 after asking how much Schmidt had behind. Schmidt tanked for a couple of minutes before cocking his head to the right and telling the dealer he was all in. Vengrin instantly folded and Schmidt scooped the pot.
Joe Le opened with an early-position raise to 8,000, and he found action only from Robert Mizrachi with the big stack in the big blind.
Heads up then, the flop came out . Mizrachi checked, allowing Le to continue out with a bet of 12,000. That drew a check-raise to 33,000 from Mizrachi, and Le moved all in for about 100,000 total. Mizrachi snap-called.
Showdown
Le:
Mizrachi:
Le's two pair were in a bad way against Mizrachi and his flopped straight. The turn and river failed to bring a full house for Le, and he has been eliminated in 41st place.
Marc Levy moved all in for his last 39,000 with pocket eights and was called by an opponent holding . Levy's opponent binked a queen on the turn to send him to the rail in 42nd place.