| Huge Five-Way Pot is Key to Bus Driver Esmeralda’s Hold’em Win
Jayr Esmeralda is a low-limit ($4-$8) hold’em player who’s been playing poker for eight years but tournaments for only 10 months. Until now he’s had only one small tournament win at Hollywood Park. Things didn’t look that bright for him tonight either, because he was struggling at the second table and arrived at the final table third-lowest in chips.
Then came hand 21, which turned out to be a monster. It started with five-way action, with one player holding pocket 10s, another pocket jacks, a third pocket queens and a fourth A-K suited.
Esmeralda went all in on the river with pocket kings, they held up and, he hauled in an enormous pot of about $75,000. He kept climbing from there and held a substantial chip lead when the field was down to seven. At that point a chip-count deal was made, making him the winner of event number eight in Hustler Casino’s Grand Slam of Poker Tournament III, $200 limit hold’em.
Esmeralda, who says poker is only a hobby with him, is employed as a Los Angeles Metro bus driver. He describes himself as an aggressive player, but added, only when he has the cards. “I try to wait until I have the right card at the right moment,” he explained.
Providing graphic evidence of which way tournament poker has been going because of television exposure, this was only the first limit event at Grand Slam III following seven straight days of no-limit events. After seven days of all-in moves, tonight’s event seemed almost surreally slow and tame by comparison.
Final table action started with blinds of $1,000 and $2,000, limits of $2,000 and $4,000 and 26:51 remaining in the round. There was virtually a three-way tie for the chip lead. Retired Air Force colonel Jerry Simon had $57,500; Greg Kouyoumdjian had $55,500; and Frank Schram had $54,500.
At the other end, Ivan Nguyen, a student, started with only $16,000 and managed to last only six hands. He was in good shape with aces and 10s until a Jh on the river gave David Ho a flush and we had lost our first player. Nguyen cashed out for $1,010.
Robert McHugh has been an investment banker in London. One week ago he left that occupation to follow his dream of becoming a professional poker player. Tonight he was down to $1,500 with pocket 7s when he bet blind all in before the flop. He hit a set on the flop to beat Ho, who this time held the unlucky A-10, and got to play a while longer.
When blinds went to $1,500-$3,000 with $3,000-$6,000 limits, Steven Dubin was getting low on chips. But Dubin, a record producer and song writer, got back in the game when his pocket jacks turned into a full house in a pot against salesman Frank Schram, who has a win at the Orleans to his credit
Hand 21 was the pot of the night. David Ho was dealt A-K suited; Dubin picked up pocket 10s; Hamid Mohammadi, a civil engineer, had pocket jacks; Greg Kouyoumdjian had pocket queens; and Esmeralda had the kings. After all the betting and raising was done with, and Esmeralda went all in on the turn, the board showed two small pair. Nobody filled, the kings prevailed, and the all-in player was suddenly the big chip leader.
Ho came out of that fire-fight the lowest chipped. He managed to hold on for a little while by doubling up in a hand when he paired a 9 on the flop. But one hand later he ran into Esmeralda again. With a board of 8-5-4-J-A, Esmeralda bet and Ho called all in. Esmeralda turned over pocket 10s and Ho mucked without showing his cards. He picked up $1,180 for ninth place.
On hand 27, McHugh was on the button with Js-10s and made a $1,000 all-in raise. Kouyoumdjian was in the big blind and made an automatic call without looking. Kouyoumdjian turned up Ad-Jh, making him a 2-1 favorite. The board came 9-9-4-3-Q, and the British aspiring pro cashed in eighth for $1,685.
As play continued, Simon added considerably to his stacks at the expense of Kouyoumdjian, who had been the most aggressive player at the table. With a board of Ah-Ac-5h-9h, Simon check-raised and at the end showed Qh-Jh for a flush.
There was one more sizeable pot. It was the last pot of the evening, and Esmeralda won it against Schram holdng Ah-Jc. He flopped a broadway straight when 10d-Kc-Qc was dealt, then improved to a flush when two more clubs fell.
As this point, Mohammadi pushed for a chip-count deal. Robert “Bugsy” Slagle, the Texas exterminator, was lowest chipped. Slagle, who was making his second straight final table, and who has three cash-outs in four tournament attempts this year, was the lone objector who wanted to keep playing. But he finally came around after the deal was sweetened a bit.
The chip count was: Esmeralda, $112,000; Kouyoumdjian, $72,000; Simon, $69,000; Mohammadi, $24,500; Schram, $23,000; Dubin, $17,000; and Slagle, $22,000.
That was the order of finish with bus driver Esmeralda driving off with an official $25,515 for his first major tournament victory. —Max Shapiro
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