LOWER LAKE — Lower Lake man Jason Teixeira is living the dream. Reminiscent of the 2008 Zak Penn movie “The Grand,” Teixeira is an online poker champion headed for Connecticut to compete in a live tournament in April.
“I feel like I”m living every average, online poker player”s dream. It”s just unreal,” Teixeira said. “I can”t tell you how excited I am to be representing Clearlake in this huge tournament. One tournament could change mine and my son”s lives. Last year”s winner took home $822,000.”
Teixeira said he competed in two, online “Texas Hold ?Em” tournaments in the North American Poker Tour on PokerStars.net. “I spent a total of 13 hours online between both tournaments and it cost me nothing to play,” he said. “There were 10,000 people competing in the first tournament and the top 36 qualified for the championship tournament. There were 501 people in the championship tournament that I won to get me a spot in the live tournament in Connecticut, which is going to be covered by ESPN2.”
Teixeira said the luck of the draw was with him in both online tournament events. “I got two royal flushes; one in each tournament,” he said. “To get a royal flush at all is amazing. Then to get one in each tournament is unheard of.”
Teixeira said he advanced to the final table in the championship tournament with a bit of a disadvantage. He said he went in with 78,000 chips while chip leaders were stacked with 422,000. “I just sat back and let them eat them up. Then it came down to just two of us,” he said. “When I went heads-up with the chip leader he had 1.1 million in chips and I had 266,000.”
Teixeira said he was holding a high straight when he pushed all in.
“He called and I won with a king-high straight. That put me at 600,000 and him at 800,000,” he said. “A few hands later I found myself with 1.1 million in chips and him with 266,000. He went all-in; I called and I won with a flush.”
As the satellite winner, Teixeira said he garnered $7,000, which covers the $6,000 entry fee in the upcoming live tournament and airfare to Uncasville, CT. “They are putting me up in the Mohegan Sun, which is the second largest casino in the world,” he said, adding that he plans to take his father along to share the experience.
PokerStars.net North American Poker Tour runs 16 days with 38 poker tournament events. Teixeira will be competing in events April 7 through April 11.
Contact South County reporter Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com or call her directly at 994-6444, ext. 11.
