Next in Line

Corteza roared at May's U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship. (Photo by JP Parmentier)

IT'S A quiet Thursday evening in mid-June at the Asia Poker Club and Pool Room in the Malate section of hot and rainy Manila, and for Lee Vann Corteza that's just as well.

On one of the two Brunswick Metro tables, Francisco Bustamante plays with a local pro. 10-ball, race to 16 - with the local getting the 9-ball handicap - for $400. Various mid-level and old-time pros wait on the sidelines casually watching, chain-smoking cigarettes, and occasionally checking their cell phones for a text message or call from a stake horse so they get some more action going. Corteza fiddles with his phone too, waiting for a call from his manager.

"I think he's asleep," Corteza says smiling. "I guess no action for me tonight."

The friendly, soft-spoken 31-year-old budding superstar clearly doesn't mind the lack of activity. Anyway, the last few nights he had engaged in some of highest stakes 10-ball the Philippines has seen in some time. $20,000 a set, race to 21 against the other Filipino superstar with whom Corteza shares the mythical title of "Money Game King," Dennis Orcollo, who was backed by none other than boxing great Manny Pacquiao. Corteza and Orcollo went back and forth for two days of serious action, eventually breaking even.

It looks like it'll be a rare easy night for Corteza, so he descends the escalator with his driver and a friend, two floors to the swanky Chinese hot pot restaurant, where they dive into a huge buffet of meats, seafood and vegetables. Corteza orders a beer to wash down the succulent spread. He's the picture of relaxation and cool.

And well he should be. Corteza's life is firing on all cylinders. Just two weeks earlier, Corteza returned from the U.S. riding the wave of his most successful stint yet in America. He first won the Mezz 10-Ball Open in Los Angeles. Then, two weeks later, he captured the most important title of his still-young career, the inaugural U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship in Las Vegas, topping a world-class field of 128 players. In addition, his manager is committed to sending him anywhere in the world, so long as it's against the best in the world. Oh, yeah, on top of all this, he has a lively 3-month-old baby girl waiting for him at home.

Corteza's is a hard-fought success that's more than 15 years in the making. In the last year especially, he had been knocking on the door, logging the needed miles and putting in the extra time, achieving better finishes in the toughest events. His recent upsurge started in the latter part of 2009, with a fourth-place finish at the U.S. Open and runner-up performance at the World 10-Ball Championship. But he had to wait until the summer of 2010 for his arrival among the world's elite.

It's a lofty perch that has players and hard-core fans alike stopping to take notice. People are starting to see that under Corteza's humble veneer and boyish smile lies a deadly serious and focused professional with a noticeable swagger that oozes confidence. This is a man who has something inside him that doesn't allow him to flinch under pressure. And, as evidenced by the five hill-hill victories during his U.S. Open 10-Ball title run, the guy clearly knows how to close out a match.

Corteza is not a man of many words, but his choice of body art perhaps speaks volumes about him and the personality he brings into competition: two large tattoos of angels, which he recently had put on each forearm.

"This one is a bad angel," he says showing the menacing figure on his right arm accompanied by his nickname "Slayer." He then shows the left arm. "And this one is the good angel."? It's a friendlier figure, accompanied by the name of his 3-year-old son. He seems to have a difficult time explaining the reason he had the work done three months ago. Then, with that sheepish smile of his, he offers this:

"All people have split personalities. Sometimes I'm good. Sometimes I'm bad. Before we start the match, I'm a good person. At the table, I'm a bad person. There's no mercy."

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