Poker players ante up for charity cause
Toolbox
By Robin Palmer Times Argus Staff - Published: January 17, 2005
BARRE – It was no World Poker Tour, and no celebrities turned out. But Sunday afternoon had some local poker players dusting off their baseball caps and sunglasses, thumbing chips and cracking open wallets, just like the pros.
Speaking with an accent and wearing a New England Poker Classic cap, a player who only identified himself as "Nick the Greek" was the first place finisher in the charity game billed as a No Limit Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament.
The Hardwick resident – whose first name really is Nick and whose ancestry really is Greek – took home the top $1,800 prize, staying in with only a pair of threes. But they quickly turned into a full house when a third three and a pair of kings came up on community cards known in the game as "the flop," "the turn" and "the river," giving him the winning hand.
The full house knocked out Nick's final competitor, who went all in with an ace and a nine in a dramatic finish that had a dozen lingering spectators on their feet in the spacious Barre Knights of Columbus Hall, which was transformed for the day into the poker home for 60 players.
While it was Nick who finished first after nearly five hours of play, it was players of a different game – Northfield High School baseball – who were the real winners.
The poker tournament was a benefit for the players' annual trip to Florida, said organizer Frank Pecora, the high school's assistant principal, athletic director and varsity baseball coach.
The high school athletes' parents sold tickets at a $100 apiece to the tournament, netting about $3,000 toward the April 14-21 trip to Florida, where the athletes will play ball and visit the Kennedy Space Center. The rest of the money funded expenses and the pot for the top players.
"We've been doing it since 1997. We were the first team in the state of Vermont to go to Florida," Pecora said of the trip that he hails as educational as well as fun. "It's worthwhile. It's something that's good for the kids. It's something that's good for the program."
For some Northfield youth, it will be their first time on a plane. The young athletes will also see alligators on swamp tours, watch a Minor League baseball game and feel much like a traveling Minor League team themselves as they take on ball clubs from other states, Pecora said.
To earn the approximately $13,000 needed for the team's expenses in Florida (players pay for their own plane tickets), the student athletes hold bottle drives, sell pizzas and work at the school painting and cleaning up, Pecora said.
Local community members and groups like the American Legion also help out with donations of money and time. The legion's women's auxiliary puts on a lasagna dinner as a fund raiser.
And this time around, Pecora held a poker tournament.
In the past, Pecora has organized a casino night, but with interest in the casino night waning, Pecora this year latched on to the success of the televised World Poker Tour and celebrity poker No Limit Texas Hold'em games.
Pecora hosted the team's first benefit game in Burlington in October, but only 25 people turned out. Games for charity are legal in Vermont under state law if they are held by non-profits, churches or schools and take place no more than quarterly. With some players wearing sunglasses as the professionals do to disguise "tells," the players squared off around circular tables in the Knights of Columbus hall, stacks of red, white, black and green chips before them.
"A lot of people are here for the cause, and some people are here for the money," said Danielle Goodwin of Northfield, who helped pass out chips and fresh decks of red-colored cards at Sunday's tournament.
"I'm here to support this (cause). I just think it's an incredible opportunity for some of the kids to travel for the first time," said Northfield's Ed Corrigan, whose now-grown son Kevin traveled to Florida with the team in the past. "I don't normally play Texas Hold'em at this level." He did this time.
The players received $1,000 in chips for their $100 buy-ins. But, for some, $1,000 was not enough.
One man lasted fewer than 15 minutes. His hands shaking with nervousness, it was Craig Chase of Barre who knocked out that first player.
Chase was not nervous about losing his $100 buy-in, but rather his pride, he said. The Barre man turned out because he does well against his friends at weekly games and wanted to see if he was good enough to play with others, he said.
On Sunday, the answer was yes. Chase made it to the final table, finishing eighth and taking home the $100 he paid to enter. "This was my goal, to make the final table," he said.
Mike Molander had the same goal.
"Just to get to the final table and get my money back, I was thrilled," said the Barre resident who finished fourth. "I actually got to the final table with some of the worst hands I've ever had. I was forced all in seven times."
As gracious as Chase and Molander were in victory, others were gracious in defeat.
"It's for a good cause," said Dan Hussey Jr. of Barre, who went out early.
Hussey explained his loss as a result of "bad cards."
"They cheat," joked Buzz Emmons of Montpelier, who was also out early. "It just wasn't my day. A flush beat me. Don't ask me what I had, because it wasn't a flush."
Some who fell early went back for more chips, paying another $100 to stay in the game.
Scott Gross was one of those. Unfortunately, the extra chips didn't get him much further. "Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose," said Gross, shrugging off the loss. He's had some great luck at Foxwoods at the slots, he explained.
Gross was not the only big gamer playing Sunday in Barre. "Nick the Greek" said he has played in casinos, at the New England Poker Classic and on the World Poker Tour. "It's not really the money, it's more really the challenge," he said of why he turned out Sunday.
The players talked strategy and of their love for the increasingly popular game.
Nick and his friend Dave Sawyer of East Montpelier had a strategy to buy $2,000 worth of chips at the start. Learning to read players was another strategy of theirs.
Chase spoke of betting the odds. "There's a fair amount of math in it. You've got to figure the odds of winning," he said.
Molander said he didn't play "junk" cards. "If I went in, I had something," he said.
He was not the only one to say he didn't bluff.
That strategy had the champ scoffing. "You don't bluff, you shouldn't be playing poker," Nick said, "or you should not expect to win."
Others will have their chance to try their luck and their strategies at winning Texas Hold'em at future charity games.
Pecora said he's planning a third game in May and a fourth in September (locations to be announced) for the sports team that has had its own bit of success with five consecutive Division III state championships from 1997 to 2001 and a 16-2 record last year.
Contact Robin Palmer at robin.palmer@timesargus.com or 479-0191, ext. 1171.
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