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Team PokerStars Pro Mexico member Angel Guillen has secured a World Series of Poker bracelet only six months after playing in his first live poker tournament.
The 26-year-old economics student, who takes home a first prize of over $500k after triumphing in the WSOP $2,000 No Limit Hold'em event, is not only the first Team PokerStars Pro to win a bracelet at this year's series, but is only the second Mexican in history to do so.
Guillen bested a field of 1,534 players to take down the event, eventually beating Finnish pro Mika Paasonen after five grueling hours of heads-up, the longest heads-up of this year's series so far.
Guillent's remarkable achievement comes only a week after a second-place finish in the WSOP $2,500 No Limit Hold'em event and cements his position as one of the most phenomenal players Mexico has ever produced. In January he qualified for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in The Bahamas - his first live event - and cashed in 51st place out of more than 1,300 players. Just two months later, he came third at the PokerStars.com LAPT Punte del Este event in Uruguay for $99,920, and then came his runner-up place in the WSOP $2.5k event for $312,800.
Despite his short career, Guillen, who hails from Mexico City and is a close friend of fellow Team PokerStars Pro JC Alvarado, already lies in second place on Mexico's all-time money list and has enjoyed an amazing start to his live poker career.
After his WSOP win he said: "I always had the dream to become a professional poker player but I never had the opportunity or the chance. I will keep trying to improve my game, to become a well-known player and to win more big events in the future."
Guillen's achievement boosts an already impressive record from the nascent Team PokerStars Mexico Pro which is still only in its first year of existence. In April, JC Alvarado won the SCOOP $1,050 main event for $502,086, while Christian de Leon has already cashed twice at this year's WSOP and came third at the PCA in January. Jorge Landazuri came 2nd at this year's LAPT Mar de la Plata tournament in Argentina and Guillermo Lopez achieved fourth place, against a field of nearly 33,000 players, in the PokerStars.com Sunday Million in May.
