“Super Mario” Esquerra, who has limited experience in 7-card hi-lo, decided to get in some practice by entering a satellite, which he says he “destroyed,” and then went on to score pretty much a wire-to-wire victory in the tournament. He had the chip lead at the first break and a big chip lead starting the final table, then coasted to an easy win in the fourth event of Winnin’ o’ the Green.
“I learned a lot tonight,” he said. He learned and he earned, collecting $7,650 for his victory. For the first time in his poker career, he said, he was at a final table where he had never played against any of his opponents before, and only knew one other player, Leo Fasen, who finished second. Fasen, a Bel Air resident, is a litigation attorney. This is his biggest cash-out. (Asked if he had any prior big wins, he eagerly answered yes, then realized the question referred to action in the cardroom, not the courtroom.)
Esquerra, a 71-year-old, Mexican-born realtor, is well-known as a physical fitness buff. When the tournament ended with a deal between the two finalists, he celebrated with a series of victory push-ups.
It was an early evening. The final table started at about 10 p.m. and lasted barely an hour. Limits started at $3,000 and $6,000. Larry Rosenblum, a financial adviser, went all in on the first hand but survived with a straight seven. A hand later, Tony Jennings, a full-time player, was less fortunate. All in against Mario, he had the lead with jacks and fours, but the super one caught a third deuce on the river.
A hand after that, Jim Hinton, a Napa resident who used to work in a winery, was eliminated. Starting lowest-chipped with only $1,900, he put in his last chips in with 3-7/J in three-way action and ended up with jacks. Fasen showed a mere 6-5-10-7, but then turned up three more sixes to pop the winery guy’s cork.
As play continued, Rosenblum was all in two more times, escaping each time with a seven-low. The first time he chopped against Mario’s kings, the second time against Joseph Key’s nines.
The next player out was Del Cabot, a professional from Huntington Park. He raised with pocket tens, then went all in on fifth street. “Might as well call,” said Mario, who went on to beat Del’s unimproved pair with kings while Leo took the low with a seven.
A couple of hands later, Larry went all in for the last time. He started with split queens, couldn’t help and was chopped down by Leo’s nines-up.
The cost of playing goes up to $1,000 ante, $2,000 bring-in, $5,000-$10,000 limits. Ken Linehan confidently goes all in after making a club flush in five cards, splitting with Joseph Key’s low. A few hands go by, and then Joe, a full-time player who lives in San Diego, goes bye-bye after going all in with split eights. He’s against Leo, who shows a door-card king. But Joe also has a king and figures that increases his chances. He’s wrong. Leo ends up with kings and a low and Key cashes out in fourth place.
Lineham is next to go all in. “You’ve got to beat nines,” Mario tells him after the cards are dealt out. Ken misses his straight, but shows nines with an ace kicker. But then Esquerra knocks him out after he turns up his hole card and sees he’s hit two pair. Lineham, a waiter and substitute teacher, lives in Pasadena and hopes to make teaching his career. He has numerous cash-outs in nooner tournaments, and a couple in larger ones, and just resumed playing after taking a year off.
Suddenly, it’s heads up. Mario, with somewhat more than half the chips, says he’s exhausted and doesn’t want to play anymore, so they quickly agree to a split by chip count, and Super Mario adds one more trophy to his collection. – Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
“Super Mario” Esquerra’s numerous tournament accomplishments include a best all-around at Commerce Casino’s Heavenly Hold’em and third-place standing in all Legends of Poker events. His last major win was in Omaha hi-lo win at Big Poker Oktober last year.
He said he was never in trouble tonight, and most of his decisions brought good results. He only lost one hand at the last two tables, when he ran into rolled-up kings. What he learned tonight was that he should temper his usually aggressive game and not gamble with weak hands against good players. Because of his reputation, he explained, players going against him figured to have strong hands. Mario is now writing his own book on poker called He is Not Bluffing. It will contain advice on how to call, bet and raise correctly, along with psychological tips for keeping destructive emotions under control. He’s only written 50 pages, but already has had scores of queries, he disclosed.
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