Bartender/Student Wins #8
Yesterday it was a waiter. Today a bartender. Tomorrow a chef? We’ll see, but in any event, the winner of today’s $100 limit hold’em tournament, number eight of Big Poker Oktober, was Jorge Legaspi, currently mixing drinks while working his way through school. A dramatic draw-out at the final table helped propelled him there, but he also said he was lucky all the way through.
He had $108,000 to $62,000 for Francisco Ramos and $52,000 for Michael Mercado when the three agreed to a chip-count deal.
Opening limits at the final table were $2,000-$4,000, with 16:55 left at level 12. Michael Berkman started with a single $500 chip and put it in two hands away from the big blind. There was initial six-way action. Ramos bet every street into a board of 9-6-5-J-2 until the two last callers folded. Ramos turned up pocket sevens and.Berkman mucked without showing. He got $345 for 10th.
Robelio Anglo also got something a few hands later: a penalty for not betting his nut flush on the river. Anglo, who seemed to be playing hesitantly, said he overlooked the hand, but rules are rules, and he had to take a 10-minute break. He returned to $3,000-$6,000 limits, in time to play two hands, going all in on the button with Ac-10c. Mercado broke him, once again with pocket sevens. Ninth place paid $415.
On hand 19, Raymond Davis was down to $2,500 after pairing his ace and losing to Chan Vu, who also held an ace, but with a king kicker. Aurelio Bularan had exactly the same amount. Bularan posted his 2.5k in the big blind. Legaspi called and Davis also called all in. The hands were turned up. Bularan had Qd-8d. Legaspi had Q-10. Davis had J-8. The board came K-Q-6-J-10, and Legaspi’s queens and 10s broke both players. Eighth place paid $550 and seventh place paid $685, and Bulman and Davis chopped the total.
Legaspi now had the lead, and two hands later a big draw-out put him even further ahead. A flop of Q-9-9 gave Keith Kiyomura, an architect, nines-full. He slow-played the flop, then check-raised on the turn, going all in for $11,500. Legaspi had pocket kings, and he jumped up when a river king gave him a bigger boat. Kiyomura collected $960 for sixth place, and Legaspi now had a tremendous lead with $95,000 in chips. Behind him were Vu, $49,000; Ramos, $43,000; Mercado, $33,000; and Jun Parado, with just $3,000.
Limits were now $4,000-$8,000. Parado hung around for a few hands before finally going all in with A-K. Mercado had pocket nines, which held up when all small cards hit the board. On the next hand Legaspi pulled in a lot more chips. With three spades on board, Ramos tried a bluff with just a 9-5 offsuit and ran into Legaspi’s pocket aces.
As play continued, Ramos went all in for a second and then a third time, but managed to get out alive both times. Hand 34 saw three-way action with a flop of 7h-3s-2s, Mercado bet and Vu called for his last $3,000 holding Kd-10d. Legaspi also called with As-8d. Mercado bet again with a 5s turned. The river brought a fourth spade, giving Legaspi the nut flush. Vu, a programmer, cashed out fourth for $1,780.
Ramos won the next pot with a king high to begin his climb back. Then, just a few hands later, he took down a sizeable pot to move into second place. He went up against Legaspi, and the flop of Q-5-2 was four-bet. Another five turned, and then a six on the river gave Ramos, holding pocket sixes, a full house.
A chip-count was suggested, the numbers satisfied everyone, and the young bartender had mixed himself a winner. –Max Shapiro
BIOGRAPHY
Asked his occupation, Jorge Legaspi jokingly said he was a full-time player…now. Actually, he’s a student majoring in occupational therapy. He plans to return to school, but for the moment works as a mixologist at Joe’s Crab Shack. He’s originally from this area, lived in San Jose where he attended San Jose State University, and has now moved back here again.
Hold’em is his preferred game. In San Jose, he won some smallish tournaments at Bay 101 and Garden City, but this is his largest cash-out to date. In side games, he generally plays $8-$16 hold’em. Tonight, he said he was in pretty good shape all through the tournament, and had more than his share of his luck. “All of my ace-kings won, except once.” He describes himself as a selective player, tight, but aggressive when he has the goods.
CHIP POSITION FINAL TABLE
Raymond Davis
$29,000
Michael Mercado
$49,500
Francisco Ramos
$21,000
Chan Vu
$39,000
Keith Kiyomura
$22,000
Jun Parado
$5,500
Aurelio Bularan
$16,000
Jorge Legaspi
$33,500
Michael Berkman
$500
Robelio Anglo
$6,000
Chips raced and/or blinded off: +$470
ALL AROUND PLAY-OFF POINTS
Name Total
1. Van Mahesh 79
2. Eric Hamilton 78
3. Manalito Navarro 61
4. Viet Tran 61
5. James Mena 61
6 Angel Juarez 61
7. Michael Wong 61
8. Larry Jensen 60
9. Binh Do 59
10. Patrick Schulze 59
11.Jorge Legaspi 59
12.Chris Straghalis 53
13 Jin Son Gu 53
14.Gioi Luong 53
15.Gary Vick 53
16.Steven Goldman 53
17.John Henson 51
18.Xue Ping Shi 51
19.Francisco Ramos 51
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