Poker Tournament Results

Big Poker Oktober

Place	Name	Prize
1	Annabelle Najera (Roland Heights, CA, USA)	$8,360
2	Rex Shin	$4,230
3	Tho Ngo (Monrovia, CA, USA)	$2,115
4	Unknown	$1,445
5	Carlson Lee (Garden Grove, CA, USA)	$1,000
6	George Derischubourg	$775
7	Stanley Ning	$555
8	Robert Turner AKA "Chip Burner" (Long Beach, CA, USA)	$440
9	General Poy (Los Angeles CA)	$335

Tournament Report

Annabelle Najera Nurse Sedates Hold 'em Field! By Max Shapiro Annabelle Najera, whose daytime job is being a life-saving nurse at U.S.C.'s "cath lab" heart unit, turned into a nighttime Dr. Kervorkian, strewing bodies in her wake as she ran away with event number two in Big Poker Oktober 2000, $100 limit hold'em. Hot hands and cold bodies were the order of the night as she got an incredible run of cards that she later admitted she did not even take full advantage of. She came to the final table with well over twice as many chips as her nearest competitor, won a $35,000 pot and claimed her first victim with quads on only the second hand, and from then on the only question was who would finish in second place. All entrants in this event were gifted with a tee-shirt in a fetching shade of Cal Trans neon orange. Tournament director Denny Williams explained that if anyone had to change a tire on the freeway, the shirt could be worn as a safety precaution against getting hit by a car. Unfortunately, the shirt offered no guarantee against getting run over by Nurse Annabelle. Najera picked up the bulk of her chips at the third and second tables, a lot of it when she shot Cowboy Wolford, the colorful ex-rodeo rider, out of the saddle with a nut spade flush, relegating him to 11th place. Robert "Chip Burner" Turner then blew away Dan Kim, who was all in with 4­2 in the small blind. Turner started with A­K and caught a king, and seats were drawn for the last table. Limits started at $3,000­$6,000. On the second hand, Najera gave Florencio "General :Poy" Umel his discharge papers and badly depleted Turner. She raised with pocket nines. General Poy, holding A­K, re-raised all in for another $1,500 and Turner called. Betting all the way, she flopped trip nines and hit a fourth on the river as Turner finally folded. Five hands later, Turner, an executive host at the Hustler Casino, made his last stand with Q­9 against George Derischebourg's Q­10. It was an uneven match-up, and Derischebourg, a controller at the Teledyne electronics company, easily put out the chip-burner's fire when the board came all rags. A few hands later, Annabelle left part-time player Khoa Tran on life support with only about $6,000 in chips after he button raised with A­7 and she ran over him with A­Q, catching a lady on the turn. After limits jumped to $5,000­$10,000, Stanley Ning, a respiratory therapist at San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland, California, needed a respirator himself when he re-raised Derischebourg to go all in with K-8 against pocket sevens. He couldn't connect with either of his overcards, and they pulled the plug on him. The action then slowed for a round or two, with mostly uncalled raises, until a truly spectacular hand came down. Derischebourg, on the button, raised with A­J. Carlson Le called with pocket eights and then Rex Shin, a part-time player who learned the game playing at Bay 101, called from the big blind with 5­4 and added his last $100. The flop was Q­7­3. Le bet his last $9,600 and then hit a third eight on the turn. But a river six gave Shin an inside straight and the main pot, while Le survived by taking the side pot with his trips. Derischebourg was badly hurt, and Nurse Annabelle put him to sleep on the next hand when her A­9 stood up against his K­Q. Le was the next player to be lethally injected by Najera. She raised with A­J and he called with 5­3 of diamonds. They both paired the flop, but her pair was an ace, and she pulled the sheet over his face too. When the four finalists went off for a short break, Najera had about $105,000 of the $180,000 on the table. Returning, she kept the pressure up by raising with K­J. Khoa Tran, who plays live games full time, called all in with the better hand, A­8. No problem. She caught a jack on the flop and another on the river, and another patient was carried out. Another hand was played, but her opponents finally raised the white flag in surrender and agreed to consider a chip-count end to the slaughter. She had $110,400, Shin had $38,800 and Tho Ngo, another part-time player, had $29,900. A little more negotiating and it was all over and Nurse Annabelle could get a few hours sleep before attending to her next case, which hopefully wouldn't be a heart transplant patient. Biography - Annabelle Najera Annabelle Najera is a full-time nurse and part-time poker player who'd like to be a part-time nurse and full-time player who someday wins the World Series. She's been playing poker for six years, largely in small-limit hold'em side games. Though she's finished in the money at the Bike a couple of times, she has only one other tournament victory, in Commerce's Ladies Poker Dream event three years ago. Tonight she said she picked up a continuous run of good cards, and, despite her win, felt she played too tight, dumped too many hands and didn't play her rushes strongly enough. Originally from the Philippines, Najera has lived here for 25 years. A resident of Rowland Heights, she is married with two children. Between her job and family, she has trouble finding enough time to play poker, but wants to keep working at becoming a serious player.