Torres knows when to hold-em

Victorino Torres outplayed, out schemed, and out bluffed 40 fellow competitors, betting everything he had twice last week in Tinian en route to winning his first ever Texas Hold-em Tournament at the Tinian Dynasty Casino, and the tournament’s top prize of $6,000.

Torres emerged as the winner of the two-day tournament when time expired in the last hand of the play and three quarter off all $100,000 worth of chips on the table was stacked in piles of green gray and blue in front of him.

With him right until the end was tournament first runner-up John Cace of Guam, taking home $2,400 and second runner-up Ray Dela Cruz of Tinian, bagging the $1,500 prize.

Torres said that he came to the tournament with a couple of friends “just for fun” and that they thought they had a good shot at winning it the further along they got.

Strategy was the key for Torres, whom admittedly eliminated the players that he didn’t like during the matches when he earned a decided advantage in the tournament.

“Nothing feels better than when you can pick out who you want to kick off the table and do it. There was a lot of trash talking at the table, and it was satisfying to get rid of the talkers.”

The 10 players that were crafty enough to make the finals earned their $300 entry fee back, along with the chance to win the big money prize. KMCV’s Steve Coleman really enjoyed himself during the tournament, managing to make it to the top 10. Leaving the table just prior to the showdown of the final three, Coleman smiled and said that “nobody remembers who comes in fourth, but at least I won my entry fee back.”

Fellow finalist Jimmy Hopkins of AJ’s Restaurant was the fifth out but said that tournament offered some quality action, “I’ve been to a couple of these events before and they’re great. I had a lot of fun.”

After the tournament, the finalists were treated to a buffet courtesy of Miller Lite and the Tinian Mayor’s Office.

This was not the first of the Hold-em style tournaments at the Dynasty, but due to a recent growth in popularity, events of this nature are garnishing more public attention.

“We’ve always had tournaments, but thanks to ESPN airing the World Series of Poker, there has been a new demand. Now all of the entrants were begging for the next tournament date. The holding, no-limit, no structure style is booming worldwide. At anytime, over 3,000,000 people are playing on line. It has definitely become the game of choice,” said tournament director Eric Coskun.

During discussions for the next hold-em tournament, organizers mentioned the possibility of holding the hold-em just prior to the World Series of Poker next year. Though they would not release any of their plans officially, some of the ideas revealed would give the non-gamer the notion of entering.

This weekend, the Tinian Dynasty Hotel Casino will be hosting a Blackjack Championship with a prize pool of $70,000 and a first place prize of $40,000. The high-stakes action gets underway Friday, June 11, when the preliminary round begins at 6:30pm.