Humberto Brenes has been called the "godfather of the Costa Rican players." Known for his Latin charm and grace, Brenes has an outstanding tournament record including two world championship bracelets. He is one of the best-liked players on the tournament circuit, a man who always seems to display the charm and grace that have become legendary among Latin men. Along Jose Rosenkrantz, and his brother, Brenes is a member of the "Costa Rica Connection," that coterie of outstanding poker players from Central America who regularly make the final table of many of the the major tournaments. Brenes, who earned a degree in industrial engineering from the University of Costa Rica, is the father of three children, ages 8, 6, and 4. Although they live in Costa Rica, he and his wife, Patricia, also maintain a home in Miami Lakes, Florida. Brenes owns a Univision TV channel in Costa Rica, a construction company, and restaurants.
Brenes learned how to play poker from his father who was a social player. "When I was 7
years old, I began playing poker with my father and I saw that he played only for fun, that the money was not important to him. Sometimes he used to give the money back to players who had lost a hand. That is when I decided to play to win. I didn't like it that people took advantage of his generosity; I didn't like to see him losing money. Of course, it's not the
money ... it's the difference between being a winner and a loser. It's the feeling that you have when you are a winner -- You're happy when you win, sad when you lose." You can always tell who Humberto is at the poker table because he often wears a head set so that he can listen to music. He believes that the most important thing in poker is to maintain a calm mind and he uses the music to calm himself down and mitigate he his impulse to gamble. When he lose a few hands in a row, he sings to the music to help himself regain his composure.
Later on, he began playing tournaments: "I began playing tournaments 10 years ago. But before I even began playing poker, I was playing baccarat and craps tournaments in the casinos in the Bahamas. Playing in these tournaments, I found a friend who told me that I had the ability to manage the chips and that I understood the odds very well. Then he asked me why I didn't play in the poker tournaments. He also said that I had the ability to beat the tourists in the other casino tournaments, but maybe I couldn't beat the pros in poker tournaments. I took that as a challenge. Poker players are becoming very, very proficient; the level of play at tournaments is rising. Many of the less skilled players have quit playing the tournaments, and many top players are now coming in from Europe and Australia, from everywhere. Winning tournaments today is more difficult than ever before, so there is more satisfaction in winning. Players today have the education, discipline, and skills. Talent is something that you are born with, but concentration is something that you must teach yourself. I am hoping to have the discipline, skills, and the concentration to win." When asked which tournament players he admires he says T. J. Cloutier, Phil Hellmuth when he is concentrating on the game, and Berry Johnston.
Although he made more money in baccarat and craps tournaments, he only plays in poker tournaments now: "There is a big difference in winning a baccarat or craps tournament against tourists who have a lot of money and winning against professionals who play for money. For business, it is better to play baccarat or craps because the tourists don't know how to play, but the challenge comes in playing against the poker pros. I won more money in two years playing the craps and baccarat tournaments (I won $377,500 in one craps tournament in Nassau 10 years ago ) than I did playing poker tournaments, but I prefer to take the challenge against the poker pros." He is not fluent in English but the linguistic barriers have not gotten in the way: "In poker I know all of the important words ... raise, re-raise. When I began playing tournaments, I didn't know any English at all, but now I can understand it . . . although sometimes I don't understand what they are saying. But I always smile back and say, "Yes ... yes." Then later on, I ask Alex what they were talking about.
Humberto's brother, who worked for Humberto in the coffee company then later became partners with him in the chocolate and cookies business, has also had success on the tournament circuit and usually travels with Humberto to the tournaments. "Two years ago in the WSOP, there were 40 players left and 27 were to get the money. I was the second chip leader and then one table broke and Men Nguyen was transferred to my table with a few more chips than I had. Nguyen was seated on my left with Dan Harrington on my right. Men raised and I reraised $18,000 with pocket
kings. Men was fighting with me at the table. He said, "Oh, you reraised? Then I'm going all in." He pushed all his chips into the middle. I took about two minutes to think about what I should do, all the while watching the other table to see where I stood. You know, when you are in a hand you feel tension. Finally I said, "Call!" and pushed all my chips in the pot.
Men turned up pocket aces and took all my money. Now I know that I shouldn't have called; I didn't have to risk that amount of money, even if I had had the best hand. If I had won that hand, I would have been the chip leader. At the time, I was worried about what Humberto would say the next day about how I played the hand because we always analyze our play at tournaments. He told me to never again make that play against such a fine player because Nguyen would have to hold pocket aces to reraise when he had a lot of chips at stake in a big tournament. Nguyen came in third that year. "
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Alan Goehring
