Pauly and I step into the Poker Kitchen to discuss Ante Up for Africa — essentially the We Are the World of poker tournaments — and in doing so chew on the difference between ’80s famine and Darfur genocide, life outside the WSOP bubble, the mindset of pros playing for a good cause with a tournament underlay, and a lack of charity signage in what’s supposed to be a charity WSOP VIP lounge.
During this year’s WSOP main event, there haven’t been too many interesting or ridiculous costumes, and those that have appeared have been ho-hum. But today, coincidentally located just in front of the press box in the Amazon Room, the following scene occurred just after the cards got in the air.
The fanboy is Garry Gates, director of tournament reporting for PokerNews, and the object of his affection is obviously Evelyn Ng. It all started with a Guitar Hero bet, which technically consisted of two bets. The bigger bet was $1000 to the charity of the winner’s choice, and the side bet involved Ng wearing a PokerNews patch on her shirt during the main event if she lost and Gates being Ng’s fanboy - in full costume - for one hour of the main event.
Gates lost the Guitar Hero challenge, all of the three games, though he claimed the third one was close (he scored 99% and Ng scored 100%). Since PokerNews sponsored Gates in the event, they paid $1K to a Canadian hospital for sick children. And Gates proceeded to the costume store to get the outfit. He then showed up here to feed grapes to her and fan her during the first half hour of Day 1C of the main event, though the fanning had to stop when WSOP tournament director Jack Effel decided it was too distracting to other players. Ng then graciously stopped the fanboy activities after that period of time so Gates could get back to work.
Let me start out by saying that the Ante Up for Africa tournament is a stellar effort to raise money for Darfur refugees and awareness of the mass atrocities taking place in Africa and around the world. The ENOUGH and Not On Our Watch projects are doing wonderful things, and I hope this tournament raises a great deal of money for the causes.
The tournament was held in the Brasilia room here at the Rio. That’s all I know. How many players? Didn’t have time to count because the media was given 15 minutes for photos before we were kicked out. Names of all the celebrities and poker pros? Again, not enough time to write them down. Hopefully, a press release will be issued with all of the information at some point.
Good news? Mekhi Phifer was playing in the tournament.
Bad news? I’m not sure where to begin.
Blanket statement: The media aspect of this day was handled poorly. Very poorly.
The RSVP’s for the Ante Up for Africa tournament (July 2) are coming in. Confirmed celebrity charity players so far:
Don Cheadle
Matt Damon
Ben Affleck
Adam Sandler
Ray Romano
Charles Barkley
Jason Kidd
Kevin Pollack
Cheryl Hines
George Lopez
Joe Trohman (Fall Out Boy)
Sweet … as the song goes, “Ain’t no party like a J. Kidd party ‘cuz a J. Kidd party don’t stop!”
It’s a $5k buy-in for a luck-heavy blind structure. Remember when the concept of paparazzi-able celebs playing terrible poker used to make for good TV? Click here for a special registration form for Event #167.
The beneficiaries of this event (which raised $700k last year) are enoughproject.org and notonourwatchproject.org.
Hmm, as much sense as it makes to award bracelets only in open events, this sorta change apparently isn’t up for review, according to Michele (who played yesterday under the Queen of Hearts charity banner):
Last night at the Queens of Heart dinner, Jeffrey Pollack made two announcements:1. As long as he is WSOP Commissioner there will be a Ladies Event awarding a bracelet
2. No man would be allowed to register for the Ladies Event today
The World Series isn’t the only poker going on in the world right now — and Karridy tried to remind us of that with Pokerati’s new Citizen Stack Reporter thingy (beta - come join the fun with our shiny new toy!). The text he sent in that didn’t quite make it on the first go-round (but will now and in the future):
3 of the BTT cast are at a charity tornament in Dallas vying to win a WSOP entry. The TD tells us that Home Depot donated a $100 (!?) hammer for any player who takes one down with Dan’s favorite hand. As its announced, a guy to my left says “sounds like one of Dan’s ideas”. Turns out that Whit is a pokerati reader and made me from the player list. A few moments later, SnG raises a limped pot with 72o and is rewarded with two pair on the flop. Here’s a pic of SnG just before he asked if there was a receipt.
If you’ve heard my permanent Wolfman Jack impression while listening to Beyond The Table, you might not be surprised to learn that my voice is not naturally this sexy. I had a little help from my friends. Actually, I had a LOT of help. Before the age of 6, I had undergone over 30something surgeries on my throat and vocal chords. Some of those were emergency surgeries to open my airway, and some were simply maintenance to avoid more emergencies. The end result would be a voice that only a mother could love. Well, her and a disproportionately large number of black women. Apparently, I sound like this guy. But unfortunately, they usually look like this girl, and never like my new chocolate crush, this girl.
The bottom line is that the good people at Cook Children’s Hospital saved my life more than once, and I couldn’t be more pleased to tell you about the Jeremy’s Friends Poker Tournament, coming up on Saturday, May 31st @ 6pm.
How’s this for quality charity poker - 1’st place wins a Main Event entry w/airfare and hotel! Runner up gets a phat entry into the upcoming $3,000,000 tournament at Winstar, which I hear is being televised. There won’t be much fight for 3rd to 9th place, as EVERYBODY else at the final table will win $440 Super Satellite entries for the same Winstar mega tournament. Not bad, guys! Too bad we all know that charity poker is rigged! 
If you are in the North Texas area and would like to battle it out against me and a few other do-gooders, contact Jeremy’s Friends by emailing: jeremysfriendspoker@gmail.com
Last night, the Normandie Casino in L.A. hosted a poker tournament to benefit the Los Angeles Youth Network (LAYN). The organization helps abused, neglected, and homeless adolescents become self-sufficient.
A local L.A. band performed to kick off the evening, and after a buffet was opened up, the tournament began. Fun times. The $40 buy-in was right up my alley, though the $20 rebuys got expensive! Strangely, Cali Jen did not represent well by winning or even making the final table, but hey… I did my part for a good cause.
Gavin Griffin and girlfriend Kristen came out to support LAYN and play in the tournament. Always a good sport, Gavin was gracious about the attention he received and photos being taken of him. Since Kristen and I busted early, we supported the bar quite nicely.
(Kristen was seated to the left of Gavin during the tournament, and they did anything but soft play each other. Note to Kristen: When he got you to fold your Q-5, he was bluffing with 8-4 off.)
Thanks to Dr. Lisa, Robert Turner, Ryan, Teissia, and everyone else for hosting a great event!
It’s usually when a charity tournament starts raising too much money that people try to stop it. And that’s what happened in North Carolina … as what is claimed to be the largest charity tournament in the nation just got canceled. The general counsel for UNC decided that with 1,000 people slated to compete for donated prizes that maybe just maybe the event — Hold’em for Hunger — was legally questionable.
Last year saw a field of more than 500 competing for a top prize of a big-screen TV to raise more than $12,500 for a group called Nourish International.
This anti-poker victory in North Carolina comes as poker-friendly forces in South Carolina appear to be making great strides with a bill in South Carolina that would’ve overturned a 200-year-old law to allow churches to raise charity money via poker got defeated.
DALLAS–The charity tourney for Bea’s Kids was Saturday night, and none other than your second-favorite host of Beyond the Table won it! No, I’m not talking about Tom … In a field of 80-someodd players — most of whom had little or no experience — Karridy took down first prize, winning a 52-inch HDTV for his efforts and charitable donation(s). Nice!
His victory was extra impressive not just because at one point he was the chip leader at the final table with an M=4, but also because he played taking a note from Gentle Shane and acted the whole time as if this were his very first time playing poker. “For a second there I thought that was Jamie Gold,” said one of his more knowledgeable competitors.
Even if Karridy hadn’t won it — along with my $20 in our lasts-longest bet — this was still a great event. Kudos to tourney organizers for kicking it old-school and insisting on giving non-raffle prizes to the winners, and to Eddie Deen’s for not letting legally questionable threats from anti-poker forces get in the way of raising money for a good cause.
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Just a reminder … good poker fun this Saturday in Dallas, at Eddie Deen’s Ranch, benefiting Bea’s Kids — a 501(c)3 providing educational opportunities for poor children and their families. Buy-ins are $100 — $125 at the door — with cool donated prizes going to winners …
Pokerati will be there, and if you enjoy competing for toys in a non-raffle charity poker format — big props to Bea’s Kids and Eddie Deen’s for not going the weenie raffle route! — you should be, too.
UPDATE: Top prize is a super-phat 52-inch HDTV. Nice. On behalf of helping children, I would really really like to play my best poker.
The Montel Williams Show will be ceasing production after 17 years — and so where does one go from there but to a downtown Vegas poker room? Ever since he took the chip lead on Day 1 of the 2007 WSOP main event, Montel seems to have gotten hooked … and lately he’s been hosting $1,000 sit-n-gos at the Golden Nugget poker room:
Well maybe not for kids directly, but still, a good cause nonetheless. Pokerati is happy to be taking part in and supporting the Second Annual Texas Hold’em and Casino Night benefiting Bea’s Kids, a charity that provides educational and leadership development opportunities for low-income families. The event takes place on February 2nd, and all it will take is a $100 donation to play. Should be good, clean fundraising, rebuy-ish times … the feel-good event of the year! And if you want to do more than just play, click here for info on sponsorship opportunities.
Watching the Annie Duke testimony (and related non-poker people arguing both sides of pending anti-UIGEA legislation) left me rather impressed. And then I started thinking about Duke’s good work with the Ante Up for Africa charity tourneys … and thus I came to the conclusion … wow, Annie Duke is doing some good stuff these days.
So that has me wanting to know … who currently is the best ambassador in poker? I hate the phrase “good for poker” … that’s the topic of another post, on how it actually hurts the game … but whether it be from a business, political, or game-play perspective, what known poker celeb is using their status to the best of their abilities to make the game better for us all.
Scroll along the right-hand sidebar to let us know your thoughts on who is really representin’.
Living and working in Los Angeles, just a few miles of nightmarish traffic away from Hollywood, it’s not difficult to keep up with tabloid journalism news of the rich and famous. And as they make poker news, this reporter is right there to help spread rumors and inconsequential news. You’re welcome.
Let’s start with MTV’s Video Music Awards that took place in Las Vegas last weekend. Sure, the important news was Brittany Spears and her, ummm, interesting performance at the show. But I’m here to give you the poker-related info.
Rolling Stone magazine took the opportunity of the celebrity mecca to Vegas to celebrate their 40th anniversary with parties and the obligatory charity poker tournament. Nowhere could it be determined what charity was benefiting from the event, nor what the buy-in was. It was confirmed that there were 15 tables that played out on Saturday, September 8, and some of the participants included Nelly, Kevin Smith, Joe Simpson, Brody Jenner, Cee-Lo, Ryan Cabrera, John Salley, and Vince Neil.
The winner? Rap superstar Nelly. At the WSOP, he played the $10k main event and donked off his chips in less than two hours. At this charity tournament, he outplayed a bunch of celebrities and won the thing. The best news was that he donated all of his prize money to charity.
How did Nelly go from donkey-status to semi-average poker player? Evidently, he’s been dropping in on home games with Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari. Homeboy seems to be serious about being a playa.
Other news at the VMA’s included the high school man-to-man fight between Kid Rock and Tommy Lee over Pamela Anderson, going forward to be referred to as Pammie. (Not that she and I are gal pals, but I like men to think so.) While the boys are fighting over her, she claims to be in love with a pro poker player. She refused to name the person to any source, even Ellen DeGeneres, but reportedly told one source that she was down several hundred thousand dollars in a poker game, and the player offered to take care of it in return for, ummm, take a guess. “I paid off a poker debt with sexual favors,†she said, “and fell in love. He took advantage of me… He’s a good guy.†And on the Ellen show, she confirmed that much and concluded with, “It’s so romantic. It’s romance.â€
Awww.
The tabloids have put her statements together with some recent sightings of Pammie and Rick Salomon, infamous Paris Hilton sex tape entrepreneur, on a Malibu beach on Labor Day weekend, so rumors are running rampant that Rick is that poker player. Here’s a tip for Pammie and everyone else: Rick Salomon is not a professional poker player. Trust us.
But the Pammie rumor mill is not out of juice yet. According to the Las Vegas Magazine blog site, insiders are saying that Pammie’s new boyfriend is actually poker pro Antonio Esfandiari. Voila! That would be magical, wouldn’t you agree?
Speaking of Antonio, he’s made the tabloids lately with his recent Cristal-off. He was reportedly at the new nightclub Blush at the Wynn on the Vegas Strip, and he and NBA pro Kobe Bryant were each trying to buy more Cristal champagne than the other. Kobe ordered approximately 15 bottles – cheapskate! Not to be outdone, Antonio ended up ordering 26 bottles and spent nearly $35k for one night out. Then he told TMZ about it. Nice hand, sir.
LAS VEGAS–I was disappointed to miss the JCC Charity Poker tournament at the Palms yesterday due to a terrible head cold (as if I haven’t told everyone already). But I did miss the event and I’m sad as it made for a great and needed cause.
The ever-pretty Erica Schoenberg, who hosted along with Eli Elezra, Evelyn Ng, Lisa Wheeler and David Benyamine, took down first prize, which was a seat into the 2008 WSOP main event. Click here for the story, photos and ways to donate.
LAS VEGAS–Be sure to check out Tiffany Michelle’s interview with newly crowned WSOP champ Jerry Yang. I gotta say … seems like a great guy. In this vid, he spells out the details of his poker tithes — to Make-a-Wish, Feed the Children, and Ronald McDonald House — and about two minutes in, gives us some insight into what went really went down on those bathroom breaks. On your knees in front of the urinals? Sounds like a crazy prop bet you might see on RawVegas. Either that or those Full Tilt guys must play rough!
OK, seriously … I don’t think we could ask for a better WSOP main event champ/Miss America of Poker. “The Shadow” clearly knows poker, but doesn’t claim to have done anything beyond the basics at the table. Pretty cool that a guy like this can win … and looks to be a lovable ATM spokesman for the game.
I’ll be competing in at least one event in the 2007 WSOP — $1,500 NLH on June 16. Exciting! Even more fun is that it’s all being made possible by our new-good-best friends at Milwaukee’s Best Light. Mmm-mmm. When you think about it, it really is an amazing beer. Go MBL! Guinness-shminness! The Euros will love this stuff!
As part of this sponsorship, I’ve agreed to donate half of any winnings in Event 27 to a reputable charity of my choice. Also cool because, you know, you gotta give to live, right? So it’s on me to figure out who gets Pokerati’s highly anticipated largess. (Milwaukee’s Best Light needs this info by Today morning, fyi.)
One poker-related legislative measure that did make it out of the House and seems likely to be passed by the Senate is HCR 109 — a “concurrent resolution” officially recognizing Robstown, Texas (near Corpus Christi) as the birthplace of Texas Hold’em.
Not sure what the role of these resolutions really are — but I think any that get this far pretty much pass with zero debate since they don’t grant any sorta additional rule-making authority nor relegate funds in any way. So assuming this feel-good-for-Robstown declaration passes — along with resolutions to designate the bolo as the official state tie, and the boot as the official state shoe (scroll down to the bottom) — well … nothing changes.
At least not right now.
But I gotta think any future efforts to legalize poker in Texas stand to benefit from Abel Herrero’s political warm-fuzzy to get some gung-ho Texas poker pride written into the books.
a successful hold’em player relies on reason, intuition, and bravado, and these same qualities have served many notable Texans well throughout the proud history of the Lone Star State
Click below to read the whole resolution. It paints quite the interesting story — and could have a hypermajority of representatives from both parties technically saying “Yay!” to charity poker, online play, and $10,000 events while also acknowledging the “game of skill” concept.
(Has to be, right? If not, why are so many Texans so good yeee-haw!)
We’re hearing some interesting rumors from reliable sources about a fundraising poker tournament that didn’t happen in San Antonio this weekend. The purpose was reportedly to raise money for the American Legion there — with top prize being a WSOP main event seat. Either that prize was donated by none other than Richard Lee … or Lee had something to do with the organization of it. But apparently the cops shut it down before it happened.
Ahh, remember the good-ole-days when the police could just look the other way?
For those of you who may not recall, Lee was the well-connected, family-lovin’ San Antonio bookie businessman who finished 6th in last year’s WSOP main event (winning a cool $2.8 million) … only to have his hometown police rain on his welcome-back parade by busting into his house to confiscate cash and cars on allegations that he was running an online gambling ring. His case is still pending.
Looks like it was a busy weekend for some. I had to pass on my invitation to the Playboy Mansion (yes, seriously, I was invited) as it conflicted with The Cattle Baron’s Ball (which I have worked on all year). Of course, all of my Cattle Baron friends thought I was crazy to pass up on an exciting evening with bunnies but I think I might make it next year.
My husband actually didn’t want to miss the Gala because he had plans to work on some of his new skills. And when I say new, I mean this was his second attempt at what you will see below. Joe Sebok and Gavin Smith, I think you may have a challenge here.
Please don’t try this at home:
I’m back in Boston, at Pokerati’s New England Bureau, but I can’t stop thinking about Cali (maybe because it’s typically cold and rainy here?). There are a lot of crazy-ass stories from the trip Dan and I took to the City of Angels, and we might even tell you some of them one day (though probably not considering the content is decidedly NC-17).
For now, here’s all you need to know: The Playboy Mansion is everything I expected and more. Much, much more. Thanks Dan.
The Jennifer Harman Charity Event (photos)was successful and fun. For a $300 donation plus $30 the event raised $125,360 for the warm fury friends. The Las Vegas SPCA is a no-kill shelter which means if you lose your pup and it goes there you may just get him back. Shelters that euthanize will terminate your family pet after five days. It is expensive to house so many animals and it is up to the public to help these organizations keep up there great work. Seeing as how Jennifer Harman appeared in Card Player a few years ago with her puppy love, it comes as no surprise she would be hosting this benefit.
Texas funny man, Robert Williamson III, hosted the live auction encouraging his poker colleagues to spend, spend, and spend. In fact, someone purchased a pair of Robert’s socks for $500. Christie Shulman and Angela Brunson both bought a commissioned portrait of their pets. While Andy Black (another funny man) decided on a more contemporary piece of a rooster’s head. Robert Williamson declared the art work a portrait of his….a part of his body. Andy outbid himself until he donated a respectable amount for the portrait. Yes, that’s correct, he was the only bidder.
It was fun if you like playing in a tournament with a list of players like this:
I’m off to Vegas in a few hours to play in Jen Harman’s charity event tomorrow. The Bellagio Main Event starts Saturday and I will head over to see what’s going on. I have to say…I’m looking forward to a stress-free trip with no tournament worries. Just good old fashioned cash play.
On a lighter note for Pauly, he will be on Holdem Radio tonight with Lou Krieger and Amy Calistri. Thanks for the update, Dan. And stay off of Pokerati’s myspace or you will never get anything done.
I’m off to Caesar’s Palace next week to play in Jennifer Harman’s Charity Event to benefit the SPCA (a no-kill shelter). As many of you know, my beloved cat (Miss Kitty) passed away last month and we quickly adopted a new kitten (Socks) from a “kill†shelter. Sadly, when a mother gives birth to kittens and puppies they are all put to sleep together if not adopted within the shelter’s time frame (usually 7 days). Raising funds for a no-kill shelter, such as the Nevada SPCA, allows these organizations to keep the animals alive until adopted.
Since the tournament is the day before the Bellagio WPT main event there will be many pros like Kristy Gazes, Evelyn Ng, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Chip Reese and many more to help raise funds to feed the little guys that need a home.
I’ll have an update on what happened, who was there and how much was raised for our furry four-legged friends.
HB 3186 was filed today in the Texas House. If you want to play poker in Texas legally, this is the best flag we have to fight under. I encourage you to read the bill or at least the press release pasted below.
This is going to be a tough, potentially long fight. I’ll begin posting more regularly as our bill moves through the Legislature. The first step will be to get a hearing in the House committee after it is referred. HB 3186 should be referred to committee early next week.
When the hearing date approaches we will need as many folks as possible to congregate at the capitol and attend the hearing. Details to come on that.
In the meantime, the press release is below. Feel free to send Representative Menendez an email thanking him for filing such a great bill.
My html skill is akin to that of a 5-year-old, so please pardon my lack of fancy formatting:
It’s official … my online gambling days are done, at least for a little while. I tried to deposit some more money into ULTIMATE BET, but to no avail (despite following instructions and agreeing to an extra fee). Even if someone could walk me through it, it’s simply too difficult for this not-quite-winning online player to go through the hassle.
UPDATE: CardPlayer reports that online tourney fields took a sharp hit this weekend. Expect those numbers to further dwindle as WEAKER PLAYERS exhaust available bankroll.
Read into that what you will. Here’s the latest update on how you can still deposit (and redeposit) to your various online gambling accounts.
And here’s a tech site reporting on the reporting that alternative methods still exist (at least for now) and concluding that online gambling still ain’t goin’ away.
More influential NON-POKER sites are taking note of developments in our little pokery corner of the internet. They may not know what to make of it all yet, but they seem to recognize its far-reaching relevance.
So far, the NETELLER news has inspired SLASHDOT readers to post 579 comments.
It took less than a few days after the most recent blow to legitimate online poker sites for SPAM from the criminally minded, fly-by-night operations to arrive. Below is an example of a site that for obvious reasons shouldn’t even be considered a viable alternative:
—–Original Message—–
From: Ian Hardin [mailto:allenipbo@tftdisplays.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 7:49 PM
To: danm
Subject: US players are welcomehi
(download), start playing
US players are welcome
most fair casino
you don’t know internet at all if you don’t know this casinohttp://greatdefisha.org
Go ahead and click the site (assuming you feel good about your SPYWARE/VIRUS protection) … I did, and it wasn’t even operable yet.
The BRITS, we know, are all about online gambling. And one of the thing they’ll likely be doing with all that TAX REVENUE the UK gains — besides making sure their players can be confident they are dealing with a safe, fair, legitimate site — is helping doctors help the tiny (but still sizable) percentage of people who have true GAMBLING ADDICTIONS.
We can expect plenty of stories like this one to emerge — about a 53-year-old lady lawyer in CALIFORNIA who just got sentenced to NINE YEARS in prison for embezzling $900k to fund her internet gambling addiction. (I wonder how many of her tainted dollars got dispersed directly or indirectly into any of our online accounts.)
Some states in AMERICA are starting to realize that the new anti-gambling law doesn’t prohibit INTRAstate online play … and that could open the door … for something.
MICHAEL BOLCEREK (of the PPA) was in attendance at the NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF STATE LEGISLATURES last week, where talk of UIGEA enforcment was a hot topic, and he introduced elected officials to the concept of RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING.
Related to that concept, LOU KREIGER has a good post on when to leave a juicy game. He played in the Poker Authors Challenge at BINION’S yesterday. (No word on who won.)
But as it currently stands in the new legal environment, it’s not about who you play with or how you play. Just ask ANTHONY HALL, who has been warning our CARIBBEAN cousins for a year that an important industry to the region’s economy was being threatened by American politics and law enforcement.
Meanwhile, CRYPTOLOGIC — based in the same CANADA that is home to Neteller — has staked its claim in the yet-to-be-tapped CHINESE poker market.
Did you know the editor of POKERPAGES is also a stand-up comedian?
Not to be confused with the JUSTIN WEST who ran for Texas governor.
And speaking of Poker Pages, KAELAINE kicks it old-school and has a nice tourney recap of her victory in a MEDIA FREEROLL in TUNICA. What’s interesting about this quick-blind freeroll is that the field grew … and that the WORLD POKER OPEN folks now pay out a cash prize ($1,000) to the winner. (I’m pretty sure this is new.)
And speaking of OLD SCHOOL, I found this 2005 discussion about when online poker will peak both naive and prescient.
Likewise for this 2005 article in Time … declaring how the BRITS are leaving us way behind in the online gambling world … and giving a little more insight into the factors in play before the CRACKDOWN on poker really kicked in.
BEST POKER SHIRT ever? I gotta get me one of these. (Go Polacks! Go “the dan” circa 2004!)
Click here to see the worst.
All the legal hubbub hasn’t stopped DOYLE BRUNSON from spreading the poker gospel to Hollywood (via UTAH) with a charity tourney at the SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL.
Back in DALLAS, a charity called BEA’S KIDS held an old-fashioned charity tourney (c. 2004) this weekend … where players actually paid money to compete for real prizes … a big-screen TV, trip to Vegas, stuff like that. There was no police raid on the illegal/tax-deductible attempt to raise money to send poor kids to summer camp.
Speaking of kids … here are some more MUSICAL CHIPS:
Online legalities not withstanding, teenagers are the future of poker/doing the “chip dance.”
La Riata is this Saturday. Once upon a time it was the coolest, bestest, biggest charity tourney in Texas. By giving away a single $10,000 prize, the Texas Stampede was able to draw some 300+ players and raise more than $250,000 for Children’s Medical Center. It was a great way for Dallas sharks to meet willing whales. It still is, but alas, the WSOP main event seat has to be given away by raffle. But hey, last year’s raffle winner, Whit Blanton, parlayed his luck of the draw into a $50,000 display of WSOP skill.
I’ll be honest … La Riata is hurting a bit for players this year. It’s not so clear that they’ll be able to raise even $100k. Another example of Texas children being punished by Texas’ inability to allow any sort of legal poker involving money and prizes. And to some extent, the tournament itself is learning the lessons so many underground operators had to learn:
Aces was hardly the only action in town on Saturday. Apparently, there was a big charity tourney in Garland that went off without a hitch. The “Annual All-In for the Kids Texas Hold’em Tournament” … or something close to that … at the Hella Shriners Temple … benefitting the Shriners “peace officer unit.”(?) Game supposedly featured a cash donation for chips and cash payouts — clearly making it legally questionable, no matter how much money it raised for a good cause.
Invites reportedly went out to a crew of Dallas County cops, deputies, lawyers, DAs, judges, and a few proprietors of underground poker rooms.
(Dudes, next time you gotta get Pokerati at your event! It will be great!)
No word on whether or not the winner of the Shriners/Sherriffs tourney made it to Aces in time for the big raid.
