$5,500 Aruba Poker Classic Championship Day 1a | 2009 Aruba Poker Classic

10-05-2009 12:53 UTC-3

Welcome to Aruba!

[user66118]

PokerNews welcomes you to the little latitudes down near the equator for our coverage of the 2009 UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic!

This eighth annual installment of the Classic is being hosted at the Radisson Aruba Resort and Casino for the sixth year running. With a laid-back atmosphere permeating the tropical breeze in the air, this island paradise is a popular early-autumn tournament stop for many American Pros looking to extend their time in the sunshine a few extra weeks. The entire staffs of Team UltimateBet and Team AbsolutePoker are in the house, and they'll take to the felt alongside a whole host of online qualifiers over the course of these two Day 1 flights.

Play is scheduled to kick off at noon local time, just about 15 minutes from now. Sit tight, we'll be back with the 'shuffle up and deal' shortly.

Level: 1

Blinds: 25/50

Ante: 0

10-05-2009 13:20 UTC-3

Shuffle Up and Deal!

donpeters

Renowned tournament director Matt Savage has announced the famous words to begin the tournament and action is underway.

It is important to note that Savage and the rest of the tournament staff have decided to remove the 75-150 blind level from play and begin the day with blinds of 25-50 to add some play early on.

10-05-2009 13:30 UTC-3

One Down

[user66118]

We picked up a big pot in progress in the middle of the room.

With the flop already out on the table, the board read {10-Diamonds}

. Dan Goonin fired a bet from the blinds, and his opponent came over the top with a raise to 3,000. Goonin bumped it back up to 8,000 before the man across the table announced, "All in." Goonin shrugged and quickly called with his covering stack.

Showdown
Goonin: {Q-Spades}

Opponent:

The two ladies of Goonan had out-flopped aces, and the turn and river came blank-blank to seal the deal. With a handshake and an awkward smile, we've lost our first player of the day.

Tags: Dan Goonin

10-05-2009 13:42 UTC-3

Notables

donpeters

Some of the notables playing in today's flight include James Honeybone, Scott Ian, Va shon "Julian Verse" Watkins, Matt Lapossie, Chris Klodnicki, Matt Graham, and Vinny Pahuja. David Fox just entered the room about 25 minutes into the first level to take his seat. Adam "Roothlus" Levy is playing today as well.

Also in the room is two-time bracelet winner Brock Parker. Parker was one of four players to claim multiple bracelets at this past WSOP in Las Vegas.

10-05-2009 14:10 UTC-3

Parker Check-Raised

donpeters

After an early-position player raised to action to 150 and one player called, Brock Parker called as well. The three players took the flop of {A-Diamonds}

and the preflop raiser fired a continuation bet of 325. The next player folded and Parker made the call.

The turn brought the {8-Diamonds}

. Action was checked to Parker and he opted to fire out a bet of 600. His opponent then check-raised to 1,700 and Parker immediately mucked, dropping to 13,000 chips.

Tags: Brock Parker

10-05-2009 14:24 UTC-3

Another Man Down Early

donpeters

Picking up the action on a flop of {Q-Clubs}

, action was four-handed with 800 in the pot. The small blind, Victor Lemos, checked. David Fox was in the big blind and checked as well. The next player fired 475. The player in the cutoff seat raised to 1,350. Lemos flat-called and then Fox folded. The player that made the original bet folded as well and action went heads up to the turn.

The turn brought the {3-Diamonds}

and Lemos fired 2,200. His opponent tanked over his decision before eventually moving all in. Lemos snapped, tabling {K-Diamonds}

. His opponent upsettingly tabled {10-Spades}

for the lower end of the straight.

The river was the {2-Spades}

and Lemos was able to bust his opponent and move to 29,000 chips.

Tags: David Fox Victor Lemos

10-05-2009 14:33 UTC-3

Maimone Starting Off in the Right Direction

donpeters

Nick "FU_15" Maimone raised to 150 and was called by the next player to act. The button then reraised to 450. Maimone and the other player both tossed in the chips to make the call.

The three players saw the flop come down {10-Spades}

. Action checked around and the turn brought the {8-Clubs}

. Maimone took the lead with a bet of 575. The next player called and then button folded.

The river was the {J-Clubs}

and Maimone fired the same bet of 575. His opponent hesitated, but then made the call. Maimone announced, "I have a pair of sevens." before tabling {7-Spades}

. His opponent checked his hole cards once more and then mucked.

Maimone has built up nicely in the early going and is sitting on a stack of roughly 24,000 chips.

Tags: "FU_15"Nick Maimone