Level: 25
Blinds: 20,000/40,000
Ante: 5,000
2009 Aruba Poker Classic
$5,500 Aruba Poker Classic Championship
Day: 5
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2009 Aruba Poker Classic
Buy-in
$5,000
Prize Pool
$2,303,750
Entries
475
Level
26
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000
and the flop comes 
, which is exactly what just happened to Eric 'basebaldy' Baldwin.Baldwin checked his made straight over to Robert Mizrachi after the flop, and Mizrachi took the bait, firing a 40,000 bet. Baldwin flat called.
The
fell on the turn and this time Baldwin opened with a bet of 105,000. Mizrachi made a quick call.The
was the last card off the deck and Baldwin made it 235,000 to play. Mizrachi made the call and mucked immediately when Baldwin showed him the goods."Good ball, base!" shouted one of Baldwin's railbirds.
After the hand, Baldwin stacked up 2.13 million in chips while Mizrachi fell back down to 2.64 million.
![[user66118]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and Hall checked. Mizrachi quickly fired out a bet of 140,000, and Hall made the smooth call.The turn brought the
, and Mizrachi put another 250,000 chips into the pot. After some careful thought and a few sidelong glances, Hall again made the call.The river was the
, and the action went check-check. "King-queen," said Mizrachi. Hall happily turned over his 
, the kicker playing to earn him a nice pot.Hall - 1,750,000
Mizrachi - 2,900,000
Mizrachi opened the pot with a raise to 85,000 from the small blind and Steely made the call from the big. The flop came down
and Mizrachi fired a continuation bet worth 140,000. Steely then cut 320,000 worth of chips from his stack and pushed them into the middle.
"I'm all in," said Mizrachi a second later.
Steely folded just as fast, leaving himself right around 840,000 in chips. We counted Mizrachi at 3,170,000 following the hand.
The flop came
and Hall checked. Baldwin opted to slow down and checked behind.The turn was the
. Hall fired 145,000. Baldwin made the call and the pot grew to over three-quarters of a million.The river completed the board with the
. Hall fired 350,000. Baldwin took a breath and then announced a call. Hall tabled 
for a straight. Baldwin tabled 
for the same straight and the two players chopped up the pot.
The four remaining players are playing for a prize pool worth $1,513,580, and they're still talking deal. The latest plan is similar to the original with a modified chip-chop.
As it stands right now, the players have tentatively agreed to pull $100,000 to create a side pool to play for. With that amount subtracted, each player would take their share of the chip equity as a payout. In addition, Baldwin asked for a bit of extra cash to sweeten the deal for him, and Steely offered to give up $11,000 with Mizrachi and Hall donating $5,500 apiece.
After another 5 or 10 minutes of debate, Baldwin called Matt Savage over and said, "Let's play."
"What's wrong? You don't like the deal?" asked Steely.
Baldwin's response was a simple one: "I've never made a deal in my life."
With nothing settled, the cards are finally in the air once again.
Level: 24
Blinds: 15,000/30,000
Ante: 5,000
The initial plan was to do a chop strictly by chip equity with Robert Mizrachi earning the lion's share. Eric Baldwin eventually said, "I'm leaning towards not chopping right now," as he studied the proposed payouts. They tried to work out a side pot to play for, but Baldwin and Mizrachi couldn't come to an agreement for how much each player should contribute.
"I'm leaning towards not chopping," Baldwin repeated. "I'm going to want more than just the straight chip numbers if I chop." After another few minutes of back-and-forth banter, he flatly said, "Let's play."
Then suddenly, just when we thought the cards were about to return to the air, the chop talks gained a second wind and resumed once again. Things should be sorted out soon.