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Day 4 of the UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic

Johan Storakers Leads Final Table

by Julio Rodriguez  |  Published: Oct 03, 2008  |  

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The final 35 players in the 2008 Aruba Poker Classic were all guaranteed to profit from their four days of play, but so far it has been a mixed blessing as they’ve had to sacrifice fun in the sun for a freezing cold banquet hall below ground. The seven final tablists, however, will get their chance Saturday at noon for both, as they battle for the $1 million first-place prize on a specially built stage on the water looking out to the Caribbean.

Matt BradyBecause of tournament director Matt Savage’s unique six-handed structure, the eliminations piled up quickly as many short stacks hit the rail. Mark “PokerH0” Kroon, coming into the day second in chips, was among the fallen after losing two consecutive hands to Matt Brady.

On the first hand, Brady flopped two pair, aces and treys, but was counterfeited after the turn and river produced running tens. Still, Brady made a sick call on the end to take over 150,000 from Kroon and leave him steaming.

A few hands later, both players got it all in again, this time on an 8-7-rag flop. Brady held top two pair and Kroon could only show 9-8. The turn and river bricked and Kroon was eliminated, making Brady a monster chip leader.

Brady continued his dominant run by taking out former chip leader Jason "icufish" Smith. Smith was all in with A-10 against Brady's pocket sixes. The board ran out 9-5-2-J-J and all of a sudden Brady was flirting with a cool million in chips, a count he would stay over all the way to the final table.

James MordueJames Mordue, last year’s second-place finisher, did his best to make another final table run. In the end, Mordue fell just short, busting in 20th place.

The last remaining woman in the field, Lynn “SassyTexan” Samples was at one point flirting with the chip lead. Unfortunately, a series of bad beat and coin flips gone wrong saw her tournament end in 16th place.

When the field reached the final 12, the four most experience players in the field, Jeff “jpapola” Papola, Johan Storakers, Allie Prescott and Matt Brady, all made their push to the final seven by picking on the short stacks and generally staying out of each other's way. When Chris Morrisson busted in 8th place the final table was set.

Here are the final seven players and their chip counts:

  1. Johan Storakers - 2,027,000
  2. Matt Brady - 1,776,000
  3. Brandon Terry - 1,211,000
  4. Jeff Papola - 1,163,000
  5. Allie Prescott - 770,000
  6. Jason Pohl - 685,000
  7. Brian Malczewski - 356,000

The action begins at noon EST Saturday and blind levels will be shortened to one-hour in length. Join us then for the conclusion of the Aruba Poker Classic.

 
 
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