Igniting the Gaslamp

Ignacio Claims First o­n J. Pechauer West Coast Tour Undefeated

by Tori Hilty

Cruising through the brackets undefeated, Victor Ignacio defeated last week's winner, Ismael "Morro" Paez, to own first place at Gaslamp Billiards Palace in San Diego, where the J. Pechauer West Coast Tour stopped o­n August 14-15, 2004.  The $4,000-added Pokertropolis.com event drew some top players including Max Eberle, Marshall Jung, and tour points leader Stan Tourangeau, all of whom were eliminated before they could claim the top spots as their own.

Among the final four were Arturo Rivera and Bernardo "King Kong" Chavez, who faced off in the quarterfinal match.  The match did not last long, with Chavez shooting out to a big lead and leaving his opponent behind.  Chavez moved o­n, taking a 9-2 win over Rivera.

Meeting for the first time at this event, Ignacio and Paez battled for the hot seat.  Paez jumped to an early lead, but Ignacio ground his way back into the match, keeping things fairly close after that.  A couple of mistakes near the end of the match by Paez allowed Ignacio to remain undefeated, winning with a 9-7 final decision.

Heading to the semifinal match with a desire to wash the taste of defeat from his mouth, Paez battled Chavez for a chance at a rematch with Ignacio in the finals.  It was a bitter battle between the two, stretching out until the score reached a tension-fill knot at the hill.  It would have been Chavez's match, but some blunders near the end took it away from him.  The fatal error for Chavez was a miscue o­n the 8.  Paez came to the table and easily completed the rack to take the 9-8 win.

Paez wasted no time jumping into the lead in the finals, at o­ne point being ahead of Ignacio 4-1.  Ignacio made a bid at a comeback, but Paez again went out to a lead at 8-5.  With Paez being o­nly five racks away the win, Ignacio again wrestled his way back into the match and ran right past Paez to take the win 13-9.

Results:

1st Victor Ignacio

2nd Ismael Paez

3rd Bernardo Chavez

4th Arturo Rivera

5th Bobby Hunter, Frank Almanza

7th Oscar Dominguez, Stephen Eakins

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