  We study the properties of a mobile hole in the $t-J$ model on the square
lattice by means of variational Monte Carlo simulations based on the
entangled-plaquette ansatz. Our energy estimates for small lattices reproduce
available exact results. We obtain values for the hole energy dispersion curve
on large lattices in quantitative agreement with earlier findings based on the
most reliable numerical techniques. Accurate estimates of the hole spectral
weight are provided.
