An infamous poker boom era trash talker returned to action on the first day of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Las Vegas series and ran into a brutal cooler at the most inopportune time.
Eric Molina, known for berating and insulting opponents during the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, hasn't been seen much in poker the past 18 years. But he showed up on Friday to compete in the Day 1a session of the $550 Mystery Bounty, a $300,000 guaranteed tournament, at Resorts World. And he ran into a tough spot right before the money bubble burst.
Molina, in his early 20s at the time, finished 31st out of 8,773 players for $329,865 in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, still his only WSOP cash. The deep run is only remembered by his behavior at the table, which included verbally sparring with eventual champion Jamie Gold and many others. He's not so young anymore, but he still occasionally shows up at various tournament stops in Las Vegas.
There were 232 entrants in the first of four Day 1 starting flights — the second taking place Friday evening. The field played down to the money when it reached 35 players. High roller Justin Young, who bagged the second largest stack (522,000) burst the bubble to finish off the session. Chris Shebat finished with the largest stack at 570,000.
Molina found a double up before one of the last breaks when he flopped top pair (kings) and received action from an ambitious player attempting to turn a small pocket pair into a bluff. But the run came to an end just two spots away from the Day 1a money bubble.
Molina opened with AxAxand received two calls, including from Shebat, who had K♠10♠. The original raiser would bet his set of aces on the AxQxJxflop after it was checked to him, and both opponents called.
The turn was a 2xand Molina was feeling great about his hand. Little did he know at the time he was up against the nut straight. He moved all in, which forced one player off the hand, but Shebat snap-called.
Molina was in desperate need of the board pairing on the river, but the Kxwas of no help. He made a quiet exit from the field on the soft bubble.
Day 1b kicked off at 5 p.m. from the Resorts World Las Vegas poker room and had over 130 entrants at the time of publishing. Molina can get back in action if he so chooses in any of the final three starting flights.
Molina won over 75% of his career live tournament earnings in the 2006 WSOP Main Event. He has less than $30,000 in combined cashes over the past nine years, according to The Hendon Mob. The notorious trash talker was part of a 10-way chop in a $400 hold'em event at Venetian in 2021, which paid him $3,400.
PokerNewsattempted to interview Molina at NAPT, but he politely declined.
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