CF Texas Hold 'em Tourney 2006

Texas Hold 'Em Tournament 2006

February 11th - Tour de Tori stop #1

The first stop in our 2006 fundraising buffet was the Fox Sports Grill in downtown Seattle for the first Celebrity CF Foundation Texas Hold 'em poker tournament. 200 players competed for a $10,000 seat at the World Series of Poker, raising over $100,000 for CF research in the process. We thank Don and Jeff Gillis of Riverside Ford and Gillis Auto Center, Foresters, Fox Sports Grill Sports Radio KJR and Mario's for their great sponsorship of this event.

Tori's Tilters was out in full force for the third time, with Robert playing poker and Carol providing moral/shopping support. The goals for the evening were simple - 1) have a good time eating, drinking and carousing with the crowd, 2) pick up a bargain or two at the silent or live auction and 3) to not to suck so bad at playing poker. The first goal was easy; the crowd was friendly, the food was great and continuous and the drinks were tasty. We fell a little short on the auction items, being outbid on several items. The third goal was strictly in my hands, but avoiding suckage after two previous unsuccessful attempts was a challenge.

Warning! Geeky poker-speak bad beat story ahead! - The 2005 events at the Seattle Tennis Center and Mario's were not great Tilter poker performances, so I was determined to do better this time around. I had Dave Grosby from KJR radio as the celebrity at my table, $1,000 in chips, and 50/100 blinds to start. A more aggressive strategy had mixed results; Raising with only a 2-5, flopping a 3-4-10, and folding after not hitting a straight was the first hit to my stack. Flopping an ace-high straight was tempered by my opponent also having the same hand, so we split the pot. After a few pre-flop folds, I was dealt an A-Q. Player to my right went all-in with $975 in chips and I called with my remaining $800 in chips. We were both called by the chip leader. The player to my right turned over an A-Q and the chip leader showed an K-8 offsuit. The two A-Q were about a 2:1 favorite. The flop did nothing for anybody, but the turn card was a King, and no Ace on the river meant my poker night was over. At least I did the best thing you could hope for at the time, which is getting your money in with the best hand.