Hammond, IN – Juan Rodriguez remembers the first time he ever played in a live poker tournament. Three years ago at O’Shea’s Casino in Las Vegas, the sweaty-palmed poker novice entered a $45 buy-in daily No-Limit Texas Hold’em competition.
On his very first hand, Rodriguez was dealt pocket kings. A player in front raised. Another player re-raised. Rodriguez, totally confused and inexperienced, mucked his cards. That's right. He mucked pocket kings pre-flop, in a $45 buy-in tournament.
“I was so scared, that I didn’t even know what I was doing,” Rodriguez said later. “I had no shot to win. Of course, I busted out in just a few minutes. But I discovered that I loved to play poker and started reading books and slowly got better.”
Fast forward three years later to October 19, 2010. At the latest World Series of Poker Circuit event, Rodriguez not only "slowly got better." He won. He managed to conquer a large field of 608 players and earned his first major poker tournament victory. Incredibly, he collected $36,439 for first place, plus the coveted gold ring, presented to all WSOP Circuit champions.
However, there was at least one case of déjà vu along the way. Pocket kings played a huge role in what was the most unlikely of victories.
Down to about 40 players remaining in the two-day tournament, Rodriguez was slightly below average in chips. He was dealt pocket queens. He made a pre-flop raise. However, he was re-raised all-in by a player he described as one of the “toughest” in the tournament.
“I thought about it, and I decided to fold,” Rodriguez said later. “That turned out to be the right decision because he showed me pocket aces. If I would have called, I probably would have lost. That gave me a lot of confidence.”
An hour went by. Nothing seemed to go right. Rodriguez became short-stacked. He looked down and saw….bingo! Pocket kings! This time, Rodriguez led out with a raise and the very same opponent re-raised all-in. History was repeating itself again, on two fronts.
But this time, Rodriguez was pot-committed and quite low on chips. He figured there was no way his opponent had pocket aces – again. He had to call.
Wham!
The tough player showed….drum roll please….pocket aces. Worse, just before the flop was shown another player announced to the table that he had folded a king. Rodriguez was in big trouble.
Just as he was about to stand up and make the walk every tournament player fears, a funny thing happened. An amazing thing happened. A prayer was answered. And, a few gasps were heard.
Bam!
In the door….a king!
Indeed, this was to be Rodriguez’s day. He ended up winning a most satisfying victory about eight hours later. The thrilling poker moment was made even more special by his father standing at tableside watching the entire episode.
Rodriguez’s father had flown to the United States from his home in Peru to visit his son. Rodriguez's victory and extraordinary moment of personal triumph could not have come at a better moment.
Some things are made to be, and are just right – and this was one of those moments.
The latest WSOP Circuit champion Juan Rodriguez is a 36-year-old tennis coach at Butler University, in Indianapolis. He came to the U.S. nearly 15 years ago as a college student to play tennis. After graduating, he later joined the university as a coach where he has been employed for more than a decade.
Three years ago, Rodriguez and his team traveled to Las Vegas to play in a tennis tournament. That presented him with his first opportunity to ever play in a poker tournament, which brings his entertaining tale of pocket kings full-circle.
Fittingly, he ended up winning holding a queen and a superior kicker. His kicker was – you guessed it -- a king.
Final table play began with Justin Filtz being the player to beat as the early chip leader. Rodriguez began play in fourth place. The starting seating positions and chip counts were as follows.
SEAT 1: Patrick Lacey (Mundelein, IL) – 748,000
SEAT 2: Scott Au (Peoria, IL) – 371,000
SEAT 3: John Buettner, Sr. (Indianapolis, IN) – 640,000
SEAT 4: Lloyd Crisp (Chicago, IL) – 200,000
SEAT 5: Vince Martinelli (Chicago, IL) – 550,000
SEAT 6: Chris Davis (Naperville, IL – 211,000
SEAT 7: Juan Rodriguez (Indianapolis, IN) – 621,000
SEAT 8: Justin Filtz (Stevens Point, WI) – 1,394,000
SEAT 9: Ralph Blythe (Lafayette, IN) – 908,000
SEAT 10: Edward Shade (Hurricane, WV) – 236,000
Final table play began at 7 pm on a Tuesday night. The end time came shortly after midnight.
John Buettner, Sr., a 68-year-old retired doctor from Indianapolis, IN was the runner up. Buettner collected $22,536 for second place.
The final hand of the tournament took place with Rodriguez covering his cross town rival (also from Indianapolis) by about a 3 to 1 margin in chips. Buettner re-raised and moved all-in holding . Rodriguez called with . The final board showed . Both players ended up making top pair, with queens. But Rodriguez held the higher kicker with his king, against Buettner’s ten.
And so, Juan Rodriguez, a 36-year-old college tennis coach and semi-pro poker player earned his first major tournament victory. First place officially paid $36,439 plus the WSOP Circuit Gold Ring. Rodriguez also received paid seats into the $1,600 buy-in Main Event and the $10,000 buy-in Regional Championship, coming up next week at the Horseshoe Casino.
With his impressive victory, Rodriguez joins previous champions Cheech Barbaro, John Nguyen, Chad Graves, and Brett Schwertley -- all Gold Ring winners so far, here in Chicago. They are the early leaders in the points race to determine qualifiers for the WSOP Circuit National Championship. There will be 11 players from this Chicago series who will advance to the $1 million freeroll national championship, to be played at season’s end in Las Vegas.
This is the third consecutive year that Horseshoe Hammond has hosted a WSOP Circuit stop. Horseshoe Hammond is conveniently located just a short distance from the Illinois-Indiana border, just 20 minutes away from Downtown Chicago.
This is the third WSOP Circuit stop of the 2010-2011 season. Here is the remaining schedule of events taking place at Horseshoe Hammond from October 15-28. Here is the entire WSOP Circuit schedule.