An notorious poker increase period trash talker returned to motion on the primary day of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Las Vegas collection and ran right into a brutal cooler on the most inopportune time.
Eric Molina, identified for berating and insulting opponents throughout the 2006 World Sequence of Poker (WSOP) Principal Occasion, hasn’t been seen a lot in poker the previous 18 years. However he confirmed up on Friday to compete within the Day 1a session of the $550 Thriller Bounty, a $300,000 assured event, at Resorts World. And he bumped into a troublesome spot proper earlier than the cash bubble burst.
Molina’s Set of Aces are No Good
Molina, in his early 20s on the time, completed thirty first out of 8,773 gamers for $329,865 within the 2006 WSOP Principal Occasion, nonetheless his solely WSOP money. The deep run is simply remembered by his conduct on the desk, which included verbally sparring with eventual champion Jamie Gold and lots of others. He isn’t so younger anymore, however he nonetheless sometimes exhibits up at varied event stops in Las Vegas.
There have been 232 entrants within the first of 4 Day 1 beginning flights — the second happening Friday night. The sector performed right down to the cash when it reached 35 gamers. Excessive curler Justin Younger, who bagged the second largest stack (522,000) burst the bubble to complete off the session. Chris Shebat completed with the biggest stack at 570,000.
Molina discovered a double up earlier than one of many final breaks when he flopped high pair (kings) and acquired motion from an bold participant making an attempt to show a small pocket pair right into a bluff. However the run got here to an finish simply two spots away from the Day 1a cash bubble.
Molina opened with AxAx and acquired two calls, together with from Shebat, who had Okâ™ 10â™ . The unique raiser would wager his set of aces on the AxQxJx flop after it was checked to him, and each opponents referred to as.
The flip was a 2x and Molina was feeling nice about his hand. Little did he know on the time he was up towards the nut straight. He moved all in, which pressured one participant off the hand, however Shebat snap-called.
Molina was in determined want of the board pairing on the river, however the Kx was of no assist. He made a quiet exit from the sphere on the smooth bubble.
Day 1b kicked off at 5 p.m. from the Resorts World Las Vegas poker site and had over 130 entrants on the time of publishing. Molina can get again in motion if he so chooses in any of the ultimate three beginning flights.
Molina gained over 75% of his profession reside event earnings within the 2006 WSOP Principal Occasion. He has lower than $30,000 in mixed cashes over the previous 9 years, in keeping with The Hendon Mob. The infamous trash talker was a part of a 10-way chop in a $400 maintain’em occasion at Venetian in 2021, which paid him $3,400.
PokerNews tried to interview Molina at NAPT, however he politely declined.
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