| Wild No-Limit Ends BPO!
The final event of Big Poker Oktober 2002, $100 no-limit hold'em, was wild and wooly. When the last table got short-handed, players began pushing in all their chips with almost any two cards at all -- 4-2, 4-3, 8-5 and, on two occasions, 7-2! "It's like three wild pitchers out there," tournament director Denny Williams commented. Despite the frenzied action, the tournament went to 5 a.m. with limits at a backbreaking $10,000-$20,000, the highest ever since the Bike went to a structure of graduated limits.
The winner was "Yavapai County" Alvaro Vasquez, an Arizona bartender who came to the final table with a chip lead of $88,000, just ahead of the $88,000 held by Geardo Felix, a welder, who finished second. When the two got heads-up, with Vasquez holding more than $280,000 of the roghly $370,000 in play, Felix made a concession offer that Vasquez couldn't refuse. Meanwhile, in the all-around points race, Binh Do was a runaway winner, collecting the $10,000 top prize.
After the last 10 players sat down, it took only two hands to get to the official final nine. Reginald Cardiel re-raised all in for about $36,000 with A-K, but Alvarez, the original raiser, had pocket aces. Nine-handed, the blinds were $2,000-$4,000 with 14 minutes remaining. On the fourth hand, Eddie Cunanan went all in for $5,000 with 10-8 of clubs and got blown away by Damon Robinson's pocket kings. Three hands later, Tony Ma raised all in for about $11,000 with pocket 8s, ran into pocket queens held by software salesman Mike Ruter and couldn't catch up.
Blinds now went to $3,000-$6,000. As play progressed, Ngoc Huynh was playing very aggressively and piling up chips. Huynh, owner of an aquarium store, has been playing tournaments for only about six months, but already has three no-limit wins at the Hustler Casino alone. Tony "Mr. Mailman" Tolentino got low-chipped when he called Ruter's all-in bet of $24,500 with K-Q of clubs. Mike had pocket 5s and bit the mailman by flopping a set. On the next hand, Tony lost his last chips with A-8 against Felix's pocket treys, which held up.
Hand 22 was Badia Khalil's last. He raised $12,000 with 10-7 of clubs and Vasquez called with K-10 of hearts. A flop of Q-J-8 gave Al an open-end straight draw and Badia a gut-shot draw. Alvarez moved in and Khalil called for his remaining chips, about $12,000. A 2-10 came, Al hauled in a pot of about $65,000 and five were left.
With blinds of $4,000-$8,000 with $1,500 antes, the game soon become an anything goes crap-shoot On hand 31, Vasquez, in the big blind, called Damon Robison's raise, going all in for about $25,000 with just 10-4 offsuit! No problem. He caught a three-outer 4 on the river to outrun Robinson's Q-10. Al did have the decency to have the better starting hand when he busted Damon six hands later. He had A-K to Damon's K-10. Damon suddenly became better than a 5-1 favorite when the flop came 10-5-3, but runner-runner J-Q gave Al a straight.
Rivera lost about $40,000 when he raised $26,000 with K-7, then bet blind before the flop, enough to put Ruter all in, and tried to talk him off his hand. But Ruter finally called, winning with ace-high. With blinds of $6,000-$12,000, everyone was in the $100,000 range except Felix, who had about $35,000. The betting and chip fluctuation got wilder, with Vasquez piling up a lead of over $200,000. Finally, on hand 54, Vasquez raised $80,000 with pocket 7s and Ngoc called all in for about $55,000 with Q-J, losing when all rags came.
A hand later, Al called Ruter's small all-in raise with 7-2 and lost. "A seven-deuce lost?" a spectator cried out in wonder. Finally, with $10,000-$20,000 blinds, it ended on hand 69. Ruter was all in again with 5-2. Vasquez had A-2 and the ace played when two pair hit the board. A deal was then made, and the tournament and Big Poker Oktober 2002 were history. -Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Alvaro Vasquez, who just turned 38, gave himself a nice birthday present by winning this event. A poker player for eight years, he used to prefer cash games, but now is becoming a tournament enthusiast. He's won a number of small tournaments and one large one, the pot-limit hold'em event at the mini series of poker a couple of years ago. Hold'em is his game of choice, especially no-limit.
Tonight he started out well, then survived a couple of bad beats and was never called when all in until he got to the final table. He started to make his move with around four tables to go. He noticed players were tightening up, but that was no way to win, he figured. "If I made it, I made it, I didn't care," he said. "I gambled, and I got lucky." He also had high praised for the Bicycle Casino's events. "I love this joint. They put on a good show."
Event #13 Results
NO-LIMIT HOLD
$200 + $20
$51,600 PRIZE POOL
242 PLAYERS
174 REBUYS
1. Alvaro Vasquez $18,255
2. Geardo Felix $9,310
3. Mike Ruter $4,715
4. Ngoc Huynh $3,265
5. Damon Robinson $2,295
6. Badia Khalil $1,815
7. Tony Tolentino $1,330
8. Tony Ma $1,085
9. Eddie Cunanan $845
NEXT
HO-HO HOLD'EM
Dec. 2-7, 2002
CHIP POSITION FINAL TABLE
Tony Tolentino
$17,000
Badia Khalil
$33,500
Tony Ma
$17,000
Alvaro Vasquez
$91,000
Geardo Felix
$88,000
Mike Ruter
$54,000
Eddier Cunanan
$5,000
Damon Robinson
$28,000
Ngoc Huynh
$36,500
Chips raced and/or blinded off: -$300
ALL-AROUND
PAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1.Binh Do 129
2.Minh Ly 109
3. Tom Roach 106
4. Tony Abesamis 105
5. Ulises Molina 105
6. Clinton Moore 98
7.Justin Westmoreland 95
8. Andom Ghebre 87
9. Jollibert David 73
10. Rocky Enciso 68
11.Can Hua 61
12.Albert Luna 60
13.Tho Ngo 58
14.Anthony Tran 57
14.Joe Grew 57
15.Fran Pinchot 57
16.Farhang Ebadipour 57
17.Men Nguyen 57
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