The professional fisherman also has fine-tuned skills at the felt
The $1,200 New England Poker Championship took place at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Milford and attracted a total of 104 entries, generating a prize pool of $112,320.
Camacho’s path to the title was anything but smooth. Late on Day 1, he got his stack in as a heavy favorite holding two kings against an opponent’s nines, only to see a set hit the flop and leave him at risk of elimination. The turn delivered a king to give Camacho his own set, and he then turned a set of deuces against another opponent’s two pair shortly after to double up again and vault near the top of the chip counts.
Heading into Day 2, Steven Tabb, runner-up in the same event last year, entered as chip leader with 2,130,000, while Camacho sat second with 1,315,000. Only the top 12 of the 104-player field made the money, with a minimum cash of $2,400.
Camacho ultimately defeated the more experienced Tabb in heads-up play to claim the $30,000 first prize, while Tabb collected $20,000 for his second consecutive runner-up finish.
Mike Chafetz ($13,000), Glen Thompson ($9,960), Steve Quillian ($8,100), Jason Kuperschmid ($7,000), Rob Keizo ($6,000), and Patrick Lohnes ($5,100) rounded out the paid finishers, with the full final table streamed on the Eastern Poker Tour’s YouTube channel.
The winner’s trophy, the Jordan Fishman Cup, was named in honor of last year’s champion, who passed away before this year’s event could be held. The poker community learned in October that Fishman had passed away two days after suffering an unexpected cardiac event.
Fishman was a retired professor from Southborough, Massachusetts, who had captured the Eastern Poker Open $1,650 High Roller the previous spring in Milford, and his girlfriend Linda Swears, whom he had met through the Eastern Poker Tour, entered the field in his memory.
