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Engineer Alex Wins Limit
Alex Limjoco, a structural engineer who plays a lot of tournaments, had a very big chip lead in the late stages of this $300 limit hold"em event, largely on the strength of a couple of straights. Screenwriter Adam Slutsky then nearly caught him, but Limjoco still was slightly ahead and was declared the winner when event number 12 ended in a three-way deal.
It was a friendly table with a lot of familiar local faces. "Nooner, Nooner, Nooner," Limjoco said at one stage, pointing around the table. With four players left, he and two others, Paul Javier and Mario Espinoza, were regulars at the Bicycle Casino"s popular "Nooner" daily tournaments. "I guess I"m a "niner" then," cracked Slutsky.
There was nearly a full 30-minute round left when the final table sat down to blinds of $1,500-$3,000 and limits of 3k/6k. Only nine players made it after a double elimination. Poker player George Marlowe arrived very low-chipped with 7k. On the first hand, he raised, Angela Farquhar called for her last 6k and Espinoza also called. Marlowe, holding pocket 4s, bet his last thousand on a flop of 10-5-5. Farquhar had A-Q and Espinoza had J-6. A queen hit the river, Farquhar survived and Marlowe was out.
Firooz Ghassemi lasted three more hands. He went out with pocket jacks against Javier"s pocket queens. "Queens versus jacks. Typical," Ghassemi remarked as he cashed out eighth. A few hands later Farquhar raised all in with A-7 offsuit. Espinoza called and turned up A-7 of spades. "No spades," Farquhar requested. The poker gods must have been on break because three spades flopped. She was drawing dead against a nut flush and collected seventh-place money.
Slutsky then picked up a lot of chips in a capped pot when his pocket 6s prevailed against Espinoza"s pocket treys. Slutsky followed up with a series of raises. "They want no part of me now," he said as he took in an uncontested pot. Another A-7 versus A-7 came up, but this time there was a chop and an all-in Russell Hendricks survived against Javier.
Blinds now became 3k/5k with 5k/10k limits. Limjoco got the first of his straights, slow-played it but got no action. Quy "David" Lam, meanwhile, had been dry. On hand 22 he played his first pot, raised and wasn"t called. When he played his second hand on the 27th deal, he knocked out Hendricks. All in with A-9, Hendricks ran into Lam"s pocket queens.
Two deals later, Lam played his third and last hand. He raised all in with A-9. Limjoco called from the big blind with 10-9 and made his second straight when the board came J-7-6-8-8. Limjoco now had a big lead with about 75k. "I"m doing the best performance of my life," he cracked a couple of hands later when he bet into a board of A-8-4 holding pocket 6s and nobody called.
Espinoza made a good call in a big pot on hand 33. With the board showing K-8-4-7-J, Javier bet. After very long thought, Espinoza called all in, and his ace-high beat Javier"s queen-high. Two hands later it was over. Slutsky had A-7, Espinoza A-2. Slutsky check-raised and the betting was capped. The 7-kicker played, and we were down to three. The chip count now was: Limjoco, 85k; Slutsky, 80k; Javier, 11.5k, and the deal was made. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Alex Limjoco"s job as a structural engineer is to take architects" plans and determine what type of beams and supports are needed. He"s been playing poker since 1990 and says he plays all games except lowball and 7-card stud high. His tournament record bears him out. He"s cashed out in limit hold"em, no limit, Omaha hi-lo, S.H.O.E. and half Omaha/8, half stud/8. His biggest win was $17,060 for finishing second in a Holiday Bonus event. He had a couple of cash-outs at Commerce last year, and several at the Bike. He describes himself as an aggressive player and a bluffer. "Call me kamikaze," he says.
Limjoco"s poker activities center mainly around tournaments, up to $200 and $300 buy-ins. Tonight he was down to 75 chips at the third level, and 100 at the sixth level before climbing back. His breakthrough hand came when he had K-10 and caught runner-runner 10s.
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