Mexican Poker: 8-Way Chop
Last night's final table lasted only five hands. This one was slightly shorter: Zero hands. In fact, there technically wasn't even a final table, because the eight finalists made a chip-count deal before they got there.
The tournament was the Toni Curiel (the tournament director) $100 limit Mexican poker event, the fifth of 2006 Winnin 'o' the Green. It started at noon, four hours before the day's main tournament, the EXTRA Sports 25K Getaway, $300 no-limit hold' em event.
The winner, and big chip leader with nearly twice anybody else's, was Hector Sanchez, who owns a printing art and designer company.
The players, however, seemed less concerned about how much money they would get than they were in knocking out Robert Najera. Earlier, with 10 players left, a chip-count was made. The deal was acceptable to nine players, but Najera was the lone hold-out. In addition, one of the players noted, Najera didn' t endear himself by asking opponents not to bet into him when he had a hand such as a low pair, then aggressively betting out when he had a high pair. In any event, when a player did finally knock him out in ninth place, there was a round of a clapping.
This was a $15,000 guarantee event. With 55 players and 95 rebuys, that's exactly what the prize pool came to. The players largely knew each other, because most of them play in the Bike' s weekly Mexican poker tournament on Tuesday. It was the first Mexican poker event ever offered at Winnin 'o' the Green, though it was once included in the Ho Ho Hold' em events.
For obviously reasons, the usual English-only rule wasn't enforced very vigorously. Spanish only would have been more realistic.
For those unfamiliar with Mexican poker, here are the ground rules. It is a five-card stud game played, like pan, without 8s, 9s or 10s. Thus, a hand like 6-7-J-Q-K would constitute a straight. There is one joker. Dealt up, it can be used for aces, straights or flushes. Dealt down, it is wild. Since flushes are much harder to make, with only 10 cards for each suit, flushes beat full houses. Play starts with one card dealt down, one up and a round of betting. There are bets on each of the next three rounds. In addition, players have the option of having those cards dealt either up or down. If down, the player must first turn up his or her hole card. Got it? OK, let's proceed.
Caramba! There isn't anything to proceed to, because immediately after Najera was beaten by two pair, the chip-count deal ended everything. At that point, Sanchez had 53,000 chips and collected $4,260. Following him were Jose Noriega, who had 25,500 chips and got $2,360. Just behind him with 25,000 was Alfonso Fernandez, who was paid $2,310. Fourth was Steven Valencia, 12,500 chips and $1,460. Fifth was Narcisco Alvarez, 10,000 and $1,285. Ovtavio Reyes finished sixth with 9,000 and $1,200. Douglas McPherson (McPherson? Who let him in?) got $1,185 for 8,500 chips. And Sabino Flores, with 5,000 chips, was paid $940 for eighth place. Officially, only seven spots were paid.
Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Hector Sanchez owns a company called Jade's Printing Art & Designer, and also is a loan officer in another business. He has been playing poker for eight years, and plays all games, including Chinese poker. He splits his time between tournaments and live games. This is his first tournament win, except for several victories in the weekly Mexican poker tournaments at the Bike, where he is a regular participant. He also made the final table in Mexican poker at Ho Ho Hold' em.
He prefers Mexican poker, he said, because he finds it to be an exciting, action and fun game. The joker adds more drama because when a player holds it, it puts pressure on his opponents. Sanchez says he likes to give action, even when he is not the favorite in a hand. Tonight he was down to seven chips about an hour and a half before the event ended. He was up against two pair, a king up and a wild card joker down, but escaped by making two pair and started moving up after that. |
