For just the second time in history, a Mexican has won a tournament at the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

He is Angel “Boloban” Guillen and he has won 2009 WSOP Event #32, a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tourney that had a $2,000 buy-in, a prize pool of about $2.8 million, a total of 1,534 entrants and 171 payouts.

Guillen, 26, of Mexico City, Mexico, earns his first career WSOP championship gold bracelet and $530,548.

The runnerup was Mika Paasonen of Hameenlinna, Finland, collecting $326,203.

Taking third was Jason Boyes of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, picking up $214,974.

Event #32 was the first event of the 57-event 2009 WSOP in which an American did not finish in first, second or third place.

The highest-finishing American in Event #32 was Steve Kohner of Mesa, Arizona, USA, who ended in fourth.

The only other Mexican ever to win a WSOP event was Victor Perches, who won a Texas hold ‘em tourney at the 2006 WSOP.

At a press conference after his big win, Guillen told reporters: “The problem in Mexico is that poker is not legal, so the growth of poker in our country has been very slow. We are trying to develop that now. We want to make a boom in Mexico.

“We mostly play online and in underground games and sometimes in home games. There are no casinos. That’s basically how it works. Hopefully, Mexico will soon export more poker players. Latin Americans, in general, are very passionate people. We love to win. We have a different type of life.

“We get an energy boost when we win. It’s like all your hopes and dreams come together. We are very warm people. I plan to keep on playing and learning more as I play. I want to become a well-known player and win many more events. Like Chris Moneymaker did for you, I want to do the same thing in my country. Hopefully, I can.”

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)