Victoriano Perches came to this country as many good people do – to seek a better life. The native of Chihuahua, Mexico arrived in the United States 25 years ago and began working inside a food processing plant in Oregon.

He eventually moved to Las Vegas and started playing in local poker games for fun. Along the way, Perches discovered he had a hidden talent for the game and progressively started playing for higher-stakes. He now plays regularly in big cash games – frequently as high as $200-400 limit.

It’s not the typical Mexican-American success story. But Perches demonstrates that every person’s path to the promised land takes a different highway. On July 26, 2006, the 57-year-old poker pro won his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet and $157,338 in cash.

The Limit Hold’em Shootout championship was played over a three-day period. There were 524 entries. It took two days to eliminate 518 players. The six finalists returned to the Rio poker stage on Day Three. The final table consisted mostly of limit cash game players with high-stakes experience. However, none of the final six had previously won a WSOP title.

The shootout format meant that each of the six players began with the same number of chips. Hence, all players started the final table as equals.

Heads-up play began with Arnold Spee holding a 2 to 1 chip lead over Victor Perches. One hour later, the chip lead was reversed. Exactly one hour later, Perches won the final pot of the night. A key hand in the confrontation took place when Spee committed a large number of chips with pocket nines to a board of 7-7-4-3-Q. Perches, betting and raising all the way, flipped over seven-six -- good for trip sevens.

He scooped a huge pot. Down to less than 100,000 in chips of 900,000 in play, Spee fizzled out with queen-jack. Up against Perches’ ace-six, all of Spee’s chips were committed on the turn on a board which showed A-J-9-6. Spee, up against two pair, was drawing to two outs. A jack failed to fall from the deck, ending the tournament in Perches’ favor. As the runner up, Arnold Spee collected $78,679.

Victor Perches, adorned in a western-style hat, was thrilled with his victory. Cheered on by family members in the crowd, Perches posed for photographs following his win and enjoyed his first time in the poker limelight.

Oddly enough, although natives of Bolivia, Costa Rica, and other Latin American countries have won gold bracelets -- in the 37-year history of the World Series, Perches is believed to be the first poker champ ever born in Mexico.

Event #36
$1,000 Limit Hold'em Shootout
Final table results:

1. Victor Perches, Las Vegas, NV, $157,338
2. Arnold Spee, Thousand Oaks, CA, $78,679
3. Anders Henriksson, Stockholm, Sweden, $50,068
4. Ralph Porter, Woodinville, WA, $39,339
5. Thomas Schneider, Phoenix, AZ, $28,610
6. Mariano Garcia, Fremont, CA, $17,882