Ultimate Bet’s Aruba Poker Classic took place in the ballroom area of the Radisson Resort from 29th September to 6th October. It was an 8 day tournament of sun, fun, beaches and million dollar poker.
Eventually Travis Rice emerged victorious from an impressive field to collect prize money of $800,000 and a gold bracelet.
Rice is famous as an Internet poker player and was said to be delighted by his offline tournament win which took him just over eight hours to finalise.
His final against James Mordue lasted only a few hands, meaning that Mordue took home the second place prize of $478,405.
The final table of six included, Brad Smithson, Nick Blackburn, Jordan Rich, Jason Gray as well as James Mordue and Travis Rice. Rice was already in the lead going into the final table.
Brad Smithson played well early on in the final table to do enough to eliminate both Jordan Rich and Jason Gray. By finishing in sixth place, Rich picked up a cheque for $77,075. Gray’s fifth place finish meanwhile ensured him a prize fund of $106,310. Nick Blackburn was then busted out by Travis Rice to earn $146,180 for finishing in fourth.
Brad Smithson who had shown some good form early on in the final table experienced a big loss. He was then in buoyant mood as he fought his way back into contention only to eventually be busted out by James Mordue. His third place finish gave him prize money of £252,490.
Going into the heads up action, Rice held a whopping 3.5 million chips compared to Mordue’s 1.9 million therefore, it only took a few hands for Rice to be declared the champion.
The Aruba Poker Classic had an impressive field of poker professionals and youngsters taking advantage of the 18 year age limit for the event. One such player was promising young Norwegian star Annette Obrestad, recent winner of the first World Series of Poker Europe event. However, she busted out on day two of the tournament. The other youngsters in the event also failed to make an impression on the tournament.
The tournament also had its share of top poker professionals including the likes of such big names as Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Freddy Deeb, Annie Duke, Jim “KrazyKanuck” Worth and Joe Sebub. It is testament to how strong the competition was that none of these big name players made it through to the final table.
