Note: 11th through 72nd places were paid prize money ranging from $420 up to $2,710
Poker's Adaptation of 'The Grapes of Wrath'
Jose Jimenez wins WSOPC no-limit hold'em tournament in record time Ã?¢ï¿½“ in just 85- minutes, he's $66,527 richer
The women watched the men, watched to see whether the break had come at last....the break would never come as long as fear could turn to wrath.
-- The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
In 1939, John Steinbeck wrote a literary masterpiece that instantly became a 20th century classic. The Grapes of Wrath told a story of struggle and sacrifice. It was a family's gamble that a better life existed beyond the drought-ridden dustbowl. The hero of the story packs up everything he owns and guides his family across the wind-swept prairie to a new home in a strange land, where he hopes to escape the Great Depression and build a better life.
If poker has such a sentimental champion, it is most certainly the winner of Event #2 at the World Series of Poker Circuit in New Orleans. Jose Jimenez, a 28-year-old Mexican immigrant, won first place and $66,527 in prize money. The story of how Jimenez topped a record field of 847 players would in interesting enough. But add the implications of what winning a poker tournament means to this man personally, and the victory extends far beyond a gold ring and poker glory.
Jimenez grew up in the bronze desert of northern Mexico, in the state of Sonora. He arrived in the United States five years ago. Jimenez moved to Dublin, Ohio and has been working as a waiter, hoping to get by, save money, and eventually bring is family to the U.S. His wife remains back in Mexico. Jimenez says that he hopes to bring her here legally, where the family can eventually settle down and be together. It is Jimenez' dream to bring his wife to America -- and ultimately to start his own business.
A few years ago, often bored and alone, Jimenez started playing poker during his off nights and gradually discovered he had a talent for the game. So, he started playing more frequently at local charity games in Ohio - and more often than not - won money. Torn by his allegiance to his family back in Mexico and staying in the U.S. to work, Jimenez planned his trips to Mexico to coincide with major poker tournaments along the way. In February 2005, Jimenez cashed for the first time at the WSOPC in San Diego, taking 4th place (and $8,400) in a no-limit hold'em tournament. Jimenez next trip back to Mexico was scheduled in May. New Orleans and the World Series of Poker just so happened to be on the road map.
On Thursday, May 19th, no one paid attention to the quiet, mild-mannered poker player en route from Ohio to Mexico, who sat down amongst a swarm of 847 bodies. By the end of Day One, some players began to take notice. In the largest poker tournament yet on this year�¢ï¿½ï¿½s circuit, 72 places were paid. With $246,477 in prize money at stake, players were eliminated as follows:
10th Place - On the very first hand of play, Gene Grimaldi took a walk. He was short-stacked with 17,000 (blinds were 6,000-12,000) and committed his last chip with K-7. Unfortunately, the marginal hand was dominated by K-10. A ten on the flop left Grimaldi drawing slim and he lasted all of 90 seconds at the final table. Grimaldi, a loan officer from New Orleans, added $2,710 to his portfolio.
9th Place - Sean McCabe went out a few hands later. McCabe moved 'all in' with K-J and found himself dominated by Jose Jimenez's A-J. An ace on the flopped pretty much left McCabe watching from the rail and the Florida-based poker player collected $4,930 for 9th place.
8th Place - Nick Graphia, age 54, looks every bit like what one would expect from his profession -- as a private investigator. The gruff Baton Rouge-based P.I., who also plays in high-limit cash games, was short-stacked during his half-hour stay at the final table. He had the best hand before the flop with K-J versus J-8, but an eight sealed Graphia's doom. He went out in 8th place and collected $7,395.
7th Place - Rick Klibert arrived with a big stack, but suffered a bad run at the final table. The IT specialist was disconnected when his A-K was 'all in' against 9-9 and failed to connect. Klibert lost the proverbial 'coin flip' hand and received $9,860 for 7th place.
6th Place - Mario Orozco has made several final tables in the last few years. He cashed 30 times in 2004. But 6th place was as high as Orozco could go in this event. His pocket 9s lost to pocket kings. Orozco, a professional poker player from Dallas, earned $12,325.
5th Place - Next, it was Todd Senser's turn to hit the bricks. Playing in his first tournament ever, Senser pulled off an astounding performance, outlasting 842 players. On the final hand, his A-7 was bulldozed by Jose Jimenez' pocket kings. Senser, a retail manager from San Antonio, took down $14,790 for 5th place.
4th Place - Darrell Hardin received most of the cheers from the crowd when players were introduced. But the cheers turned to silence when Hardin went card dead near the end of the tournament and ended up losing with a desperate hand (K-3) against A-Q. An ace on the turn put Hardin out in 4th place with $17,255.
3rd Place - Incredibly, only an hour had passed by and play was three-handed. Dewey Morris, a 60-year-old retired businessman from Nashville tried to make a steal on the button with J-7, but was called by Jimenez in the blind holding 6-6. With two overcards, Morris wasn't in as bad a shape as he might have thought. But the final board failed to make a pair for Morris and the senior member of the final table was retired with $19,720 for 3rd place.
The heads-up duel between Jose Jimenez and Ron Medlin began with the Jimenez holding a 2 to 1 chip advantage. Heads-up play lasted 15 minutes, a virtual marathon by rollicking New Orleans final table standards. Yesterday's event clocked in at a lightning-fast 2 hours and 20 minutes and this final table made that look like a full-day's work on a chain gang. This final table was settled in just 85 minutes, which may very well be a World Series of Poker record, dating back to the inception of the first tournament in 1970. Considering not nine, but ten players started at this finale, the quick pace had to be history-making.
The final hand came when Medlin went 'all in' with A-7 and was called instantly by Jimenez, holding pocket kings. The final board showed Q-6-4-8-9 and no ace meant that Jimenez was the winner. Medlin collected a nice consolation prize -- $34,875 for 2nd place.
Following the conclusion of the WSOPC in New Orleans, Jose Jimenez will continue his journey back to Mexico. Waiting for him in a dusty town in Sonora will be his wife, who is in for a heartwarming surprise. Jimenez expects to use some of the $66,527 in prize money to start the family business he always dreamed of owning. He hopes it will be a restaurant. One can only hope Jimenez will catch another break soon and be reunited with his wife, here in the U.S. If John Steinbeck and Jose Jimenez teach us anything, it is that the human spirit endures when ordinary mean and women are driven to do the extraordinary.
Report by Nolan Dalla - World Series of Poker Media Director
Harrah's Poker Room Manager - Rick Kortis
World Series of Poker Circuit Director - Ken Lambert
World Series of Poker Tournament Director - John Grooms
Day 2 breaks record for shortest final 10 I have ever seen...
Everyone is busy counting their chips and verifying their amounts. We have three with sunglasses and the rest just dancing eyes. The day started with 847 players in the $300 event with the prize pool holding a grand total of $246,477. This tournament will pay the first place winner over $60,000. The blinds start today with 4000/8000 and a 1000 chip ante. The gents have 14 minutes left in this round and the cards are in play.
Gene Grimaldi made it into the first hand and is the first to depart. He started as the short stack of 17K and decided the K 7 off was the hand to play. This was Gene's first final table in a live tournament. He is a New Orleans native. Gene finishes 10th today and takes $2,710 to the house with him.
Almost immediately, Sean McCabe from Sunny Isles Beach, Florida pushed all in with the Ks Jd. He was called by Jose Jimenez who held the Ad Js. The Ace accommodated Jose on the flop and teased Sean with a Q as well. The T never materialized and Sean took a 9th for $4,930. Sean's future plans include shooting for the stars and that would be to play in the main events of both the WPT and the WSOP.
The next player (and I AM having trouble typing this fast!) to bite the dust is Nick Graphia from Baton Rouge. Nick is a 54-year-old Private Investigator and plays poker for entertainment and recreation. Nick ran into a lesser hand that pulled a pair and gave him 8th today for $7395. He had Ks Js and Darrell Hardin had a suited 8 J. The board fell in Darrell's favor catching an 8 on the flop and took the pot.
Now, 30 minutes into this gig, we just lost Ricky Klibert from LaPlace, Louisiana. He tried to give ole "big slick" a go and Jose Jimenez popped him with his made hand of 99. The flop was uneventful with 6 8 5 and then turned really rotten for Ricky when a 9 hit the turn and turned his day into a 7th place finish for $9860. Ricky is in the information technology profession and says making it to the final table today is his first major poker accomplishment. He has been playing for two years and is anxious to play in more tourneys in the future.
Mario Orozco tangled with Dewey Morris and wishes he hadn't. Mario had 99 and Dewey KK and the board was bad news for Mario. The KK held up and sent Mario packing with 6th place and $12,375. Mario is a professional poker player at age 34. He boasts of 30 cashes last year, and I don����¯�¿�½������¢������¯������¿������½������¯������¿������½t blame him at all. For only playing 5 years, he is doing really well.
I am having issue with these guys going out so quickly. Don't they see I am trying to record this??? Jeepers, here goes another one. Todd Sensor went after it with an Ac 7d and ran smack dab into Jose with the K K. All of these hands are preflop guys. No one is waiting to see what the flop brings to them. There is a really really aggressive bunch of guys. This was Todd's first tournament and looks forward to more. He is from my home State of Texas. He lives close by too in San Antonio. Todd made $14,790 and took down a 5th out of 847 for his first go at it. Congrats Todd!
OK. We just hit the one hour mark and we are down to 4 players. All I can say is Wowie!!! Double that wowie because the 4th place finisher just went to collect his $17,255. Darrell Hardin just scooted out the door after losing with the mighty Kd 3s versus As Qd held by the chip leader, Ron Medlin. By the time we made it to the river, Darrell had 3 outs to keep breathing (by the way, we just lost 3rd place). The board was T J 7 A 6 in the end.
OK ... now Dewey "done did it". He held the button and tried to make a blind steal and ran into a messy bunch of trouble. Jose had a pocket pair of sixes and as the day has been going, the board did not comply with standard suck out procedures. Dewey is pretty happy with his 3rd place win and the $19,720 that goes with it. He is a retired businessman from Nashville. After playing only 5 events he has made the final table two times. Poker is a relatively new game for him as he has been active in golf and backgammon tournaments for over twenty-five years.
During my mach speed typing attempt, the remaining two players, Ron Medlin and Jose Jimenez got all in preflop (original idear!) Ron had Kd Th while Jose had Kc Qc. The flop came 3 4 3 A 3 and Jose was congratulated as the winner for about 4 seconds until the professional (the dealer) pointed out that they each had 3 3 3 A K for a tie. Since John Grooms (game announcer) gave the table and the audience the ole "pump fake oops", Ron took a huge deep breath as that was a $31,000 three for him.
Ron followed that hand by creating major damage to his stack. He raised preflop to 30K and Jose called. The Q 4 2 fell on the flop (amazingly we had a flop). Jose bet 50K and Ron raised to 100K. Jose then declared all in causing Ron to muck his cards. At this point Ron has 150,000 in chips and Jose 690,000. The next hand was a corker. Jose limps in. The flop is a 9d Qd 7s. As it has been, both players get all their chips in the middle. Show and tell time. Ron shows the 9h 2s; Jose the 7d 2d. I'm honestly in awe. The turn is a 2 and the river a 6 and Ron doubles up. The dealer could no sooner get the cards in the air before they were both all in again. Ron bet 50K, Jose all in and Ron comin' in right behind him. This one gave us the winner. Ron shows an ace and a race ( A 7) and Jose the mighty K K, which incidentally held up this entire day. Again the board was very uneventful and the game was over. Jose takes 1st with $66,765 and Ron 2nd and $34, 798. Ron came to the table as the chippie today. He is a 27 year old day trader and took up the game only 10 months ago. He plays online primarily.
Jose is 28 and resides in Dublin, Ohio. His family lives in Sonora, Mexico. In February he was making a trip back from visiting his wife in Mexico and decided to take in the $200 WSOP event in Rincon. He took 4th and $9860 that day. Well, sure enough, he is on his way back to Ohio again from Mexico and decided to try it again. Viola! He takes first, the moola and the WSOP Circuit ring. Jose is a waiter in Dublin and wants to take this money and start his own restaurant. Here����¯�¿�½������¢������¯������¿������½������¯������¿������½s to the good life Jose!
This event took only one hour and nineteen minutes to play. Sorry about the pictures as the Louisiana gaming commission has some issue with cameras. I did catch a few though.
Report by Sharla of PokerPages.com | 
