| Angel Flies in BPO Opener
Angel Juarez, a landscape gardener originally from Mexico, literally flew away with the opening event of Big Poker Oktober 2003, $50 limit hold'em. He started the final table with $19,000, tied with George Elias for the third-fewest number of chips, then quickly took to the sky as he ran over the field. Within 40 minutes he had more than $150,000 of the $404,000 in chips on the table. At that point, with limits at a backbreaking $10,000-$20,000, only five players were left, and his four opponents threw in the towel, made a deal and ceded him the lion's share of the prize money.
Tonight's event drew a mob of 504 players. It was the largest number of entrants for the first event of Big Poker Oktober in the past three or four years, and possibly a record for any BPO. There were several players arriving with several times the chips that Juarez had: Miguel Gutierrez with $67,000; Jim Gu with $55,000; Moshi Farid with $54,000; and Joe Thomas Jr. with $48,000.
The final table started at 12:30 a.m. with limits of $4,000-$8,000 and 10:15 remaining. Elias, author of an early book on poker, was first to go all in, but he got to stick around a while when his pocket fours held up against Ks-Qs. After limits went to $6,000-$12,000 on hand 10, Konnie Kim went out on the first deal. She was under the gun and went all in with Ks-10s against Juarez, who had pocket queens. Nobody helped when the board came 4-2-2-9-5, and Kim cashed out in 10th place for $315.
Three hands later, Juarez continued his assault. With the board showing A-Q-9, Elias bet, Juarez raised to 12k and after Elias prudently folded, Juarez showed he had flopped a set of nines. One hand later, Juarez, holding J-10, made a straight on a flop of Q-9-8 and took Gutierrez down a few notches. "What a run!" Phil Jones exclaimed in awe as Juarez began stacking up roughly $100,000 in chips.
Terri Rathbone was next to commit all her chips, but her K-9 outran Farid's pocket eights when a king flopped. On hand 16, Charlie Wang went up against Jim Son Gu.
When the board showed 9-5-5-Q, Gu bet and Wang called all in. Gu turned up pocket queens for a full house, and Wang, mucking his cards and departing without bothering to see the river, cashed in ninth for $380. Two hands later, Elias held A-J and looked to be in decent shape when the flop brought A-9-3. But Farid had A-K. He put Elias all in and busted him when a 10 and eight changed nothing. Elias picked up $505 for finishing eighth.
Four hands later the limits rose to $10,000-$20,000, and four hands after that Thomas had to post his last $4,000 in the big blind with only a sickly 6-2 to defend it. Jones was in the small blind with Q-3, and queen-high was enough to do the job when the board came K-K-5-5-10. Thomas collected $630 for his seventh-place finish.
A deal was now discussed, but Wang cast his veto, and play continued. For one hand, anyway. That was hand 25. Jones was on the button with As-10s, and Juarez, holding A-J offsuit, raised and put Jones all in. The flop came J-J-8, and Jones was pretty close to dead. A 10 and a nine came, and Jones was left in sixth place for an $880 cash-out.
The time was now 1:10. Juarez had over 150k, and there wasn't any huge chip difference among the other four. This time a deal was struck. Juarez collected an official $9,455 for first, and the chip count decided that Gu was second for $4,790; Gutierrrez third for $2,395; Farid fourth for $1,640 and Rathbone fifth for $1,135. - Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Angel Juarez is a resident of Santa Ana who came here from Mexico 24 years ago. He has operated a landscape contracting business since 1986. He’s been playing poker only three years, and this was only about his 10th tournament. He's played some small ones previously at Pechanga, came close 'but no cigar.' Hold'em is his best game, his only game in fact, and he plans to try his luck in another four or five events at Big Poker Oktober. In side-game action, he plays $8-$16, $15-$30 or no-limit hold'em at Hawaiian Gardens.
In this event, he said he had to struggle a couple of times, but managed to come back strongly. He describes his style of play as aggressive - "Providing I have pocket aces." Otherwise he is selective. Online poker is one thing that doesn't interest him. "I don't like to be alone," he said. "I like to be around other people."
|
