2009 Aruba Poker Classic

Day 2 completed

Posted 10-07-2009 21:44 GMT-3

Day 2 Concludes

The Day 2 grind is complete and we're moving on to Day 3. At the start of the day, 263 players remained from the two combined flights of starting days with Jon Favaloro leading them all. Favaloro did well to keep his chip stack moving in the right direction and finished with about 250,000 chips.

One might think 250,000 chips is plenty enough to claim the chip lead at the end of the second day, but Robert Mizrachi crushed that number after bagging up a whopping 353,200. MIzrachi stayed in control of his table throughout the entire day, winning almost every pot he played. The biggest confrontation he was involved in came when he rivered a wheel against Eric "basebaldy" Baldwin in a 130,000-chip pot.

Defending champion Matt Brady is still standing as well. Brady came in towards the bottom of the pack and had a roller coaster day, but was never able to get above 45,000. He finished the day with about 35,000 chips.

Despite losing half his chip stack on the final hand of the night, Gavin Smith finished with just under 50,000 chips. James Honeybone had a turn the other way towards the end of the night when a miracle five on the river was able to keep him alive. Phil Hellmuth, Brock Parker and Matt Vengrin are all moving on to tomorrow as well.

After five levels of play today, 86 players remain. Play will resume tomorrow at 12:00pm local time and conclude once the field is narrowed to 36 players. We'll see you all then right here on PokerNews.com for all the live updates from the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic.

Double or Nothing for Riccobono

Al Riccobono got his last 30,000 in the middle holding big slick against an opponent holding the same hand. After the board ran out all diamonds, Riccobono was holding the only diamond () in his hand and doubled to over 60,000.

Vanchiro and Baldwin Update

We're unsure of the action on the hand, but Eric "basebaldy" Baldwin just doubled through Scott "yaboystu" Stewart on a board of holding . He now has about 80,000 chips while Stewart dropped to 40,000.

On an adjacent table, Jeffrey Vanchiro just had a river bluff picked off by his opponent. The board was when Vanchiro tried to win the pot with a bet of 20,000 into a 30,000-chip pot, but couldn't get his opponent to lay down . Vanchiro announced that he only held ten high.

A Sharp Double Up

After an opponent opened with a raise to 5,200, Larry Sharp reraised to 14,500. Sharp had approximately 30,000 to begin the hand. The player that raised moved all in when action got back to him and Sharp made the call.

It was a race situation with Sharp taking slightly the worst of it holding to his opponent's .

The board ran out to give Sharp the double up. He now has around 65,000 chips.

Honeybone Doubles on the River

James Honeybone has been patiently waiting for the right time to make his move and just did so. he moved all in for 15,000 over the top of another player's raise. The player made the call and tabled . Honeybone waited for the wrong time it seemed like when he showed .

The board ran out and just as Honeybone was about to shoot to the rail, he was saved. he's back up to 33,000 now.

Tags: James Honeybone.

Under a Hundo

Another table has been broken, and after a few eliminations, 96 players remaing. Just over half of those left will fail to make it to the money.

Vanchiro Grinding Away

Jeffrey Vanchiro has been grinding hard all day long and been able to steadily build his stack throughout the day. He came into the day with 8,000 and is currently sitting on 88,000.

"Just been building it up slowly." Vanchiro said. "Let's see if I can dust it off in the next 50 minutes or so." he then joked.

He's Craaaaazy

A player in early position opened with a raise to 3,000, and Tim "tmay420" West put in the call from the button. In the small blind, Zachary "CrazyZachary" Clark put in a re-raise to 8,600. Both opponents called, and the three-way flop came down . Clark led out with a bet of 9,000, and the original raiser made the call. West ducked out of the way, and it went heads up to the turn.

The dealer placed the on the board, and both players checked. The completed the community cards, and Clark fired out a small bet of 8,500. After some deliberation, his opponent folded out, sending a nice pot over to CrazyZachary.

He's up to about 80,000 after that exchange.

Tags: CrazyZachary, Tim West, tmay420, Zachary Clark.

Mizrachi Increases Chip Lead

Walking by Robert Mizrachi's table, we noticed a massive 50,000-chip pot in the middle of the table and a bet of 40,000 cut out in front of Mizrachi on the button.

According to Scott "yaboystu" Stewart, Eric "basebaldy" Baldwin bet 16,500 on the river with the board reading . Mizrachi then raised to 56,500. Baldwin tanked for some time before making the call.

Mizrachi tabled for the wheel and all Baldwin could do was muck his hand and say, "I'm so sick." He's down to about 55,000 while Mizrachi soars up to 355,000. He is by far and away the chip leader.

Tags: Robert Mizrachi.