Day 1B of the UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic

On day 1A of the 2008 UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic, 262 players arrived at the Radisson Hotel and Casino knowing that they were playing for a guaranteed $1 million first-place prize. Despite the smallish turnout, many were optimistic that day 1B would more than make up for it, as the player count grew toward the tournament organizer’s original prediction of 750. As it turns out, day 1B could only attract 272 runners, bringing the total number of entrants to 534. The official number, however, was 551 after it was discovered that 17 players failed to show up after qualifying online.

The total prize pool for the event worked out to $2,672,350. With more than a third of that going towards the winner, some players griped about the deflated numbers for the rest of the final table. Others, however, were intrigued by the prospect of laying it all on the line and playing to win. Here are the payouts:

1 — $1,000,000
2 — $486,000
3 — $250,000
4 — $150,000
5 — $116,400
6 — $83,120
7-8 — $58,500
9-10 — $33,400
11-12 — $16,700
13-18 — $13,340
19-24 — $11,670
25-30 — $10,000
31-36 — $8,340
37-45 — $6,670
46-54 — $5,500

The no-shows were the talk of the day, especially the most famous late arriver in poker, Phil Hellmuth. The Poker Brat had busted out of the World Series of Poker Europe main event the night before and was expected to get to the tournament by 11 p.m. Tournament director Matt Savage decided to have a bit of fun at his expense and attached his picture to a pole, placing it upright in his empty chair. Hellmuth was moved throughout the day, giving many players a chance to steal his blinds and antes, but he was ultimately blinded off in the last level of the night around 10:45 p.m. Here is his elimination hand as it was reported on our live updates page:

Phil Hellmuth, still absent, is all in on his big blind for 375. Action folds around to Sam Akiki in the cutoff, and he raises to 2,000.

The button and small blind both fold, and Hellmuth’s hand is declared dead. Matt Savage turns it up anyway and the crowd, who is rooting for an absent Hellmuth, cheers when they see J J. Akiki shows A10, and just for fun, the dealer runs out the board.

The flop comes J 10 6, and the rail cheers again as Hellmuth flops a set! The turn and river come out 9, 2, and despite having the best hand, Hellmuth is eliminated from the tournament. Sadly, Akiki does not get to keep the pole holding up Phil’s head.

Matt “Plattsburgh” Vengrin almost exited earlier than Hellmuth, but caught a lucky break to stay alive and finish the day among the leaders. The flop was 5 3 2, and all of Vengrin’s chips were in the middle. The big blind called all in, and the under-the-gun player called, as well. Vengrin showed 5 3, and his two pair was ahead of the big blinds pocket sixes. But the under-the-gun player held 2 2 for bottom set. The dealer brought out the turn and river, which came K, 5, and Vengrin spiked a four-outer to chip up to over 45,000.

Travis Rice wasn’t able to survive to defend his title, but 2006 champion Devon Miller is still alive and kicking with 20,475. Other notables to make it through included Matt Brady, Chip Jett, Prahlad Friedman, Cody "thugmoneymkr" Slaubaugh, Michael Binger, Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy, Adam "Roothlus" Levy, and Chris Bell.

A total of 144 players survived day 1B. Those players will combine with day 1A’s survivors to form the day 2 field of 294. Click here for the day’s chip counts. The action will resume tomorrow at noon, so make sure you keep your browsers locked on CardPlayer.com as we continue the march toward a champion.