Sunday, December 09, 2007

Deal a Helping Hand: Mu Sigma Phi

This will be our 1st DHH event with Metro Asia in their poker area at the PAGCOR - Hyatt Manila and will be at 5pm, Saturday, December 15, 2007. Mu Sigma Phi is the medical fraternity of the Manila campus of UP, so we have some interesting prizes lined up.

Major prizes include a 26" LCD TV with home theater, A fully-transferable certificate for Bilateral Lasik Eye Surgery (YES, eye surgry) from American Eye Center. Other prizes will be in store for other winners. Winners will also receive gift packs from Jim Beam and Coca Cola, who are sponsors for this event.

Tickets are Php 2,000

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Dealt a Helping Hand: Xavier HS Batch 1983

Deal a Helping Hand recently had another installment of their charity poker tournament this time to benefit the Xavier High School batch of 1983 and for eventual winner Charlene Escaler, it was a case of everything happening for a reason.

The day of the tournament was supposed to be a separate charity casino night event for her high school alumnae from Poveda but some miscommunication with the organizers led their group to cancel the event. Since her husband was playing the DHH event already, she chose to play the tournament as well much to the detriment of the other players.

Midway through the tournament, and at the end of the rebuy/add-on period, Xavier’s 1983 High School batch raised over Php 130,000 (US$ 2,600) for their various projects. The Deal a Helping Hand series topped the Php 1,000,000 mark for charity events,

Escaler made quick work of her opponents as she made her way to the final table and seemed to be awaiting the showdown with, restaurateur Brian Tiu and it was Tiu that crippled Escaler’s chip stack with his improbable quad queens with three queens on the board, the last of which gave Escaler the nut flush setting up the show down. Both players mowed down their final table opponents. Edmund Solilaspsi finished his day in 10th place and won a Panasonic cordless phone. John-C Syquia, one of the organizers of the event, ended his run at 9th place which was worth a Brother’s 3-in-1 printer. Singer Ross Calixterio won 7th place and a mobile phone while Dexter Brillo was in 7th and won a portable DVD player. Stevie Liao won an iHome iPod dock for his troubles finishing at 6th place. Another Calixterio, January, did better than her husband Ross as she finished 5th place and won a Kodak Digital Camera. Fourth place was awarded to the last Xavierian, Charles Chua. Third place went to Jason Lim and trip for two to Hong Kong for his finish.

Momentum seemed to swing towards Tiu with the chips coming his way but there was a key hand which halted that momentum and swung it backwards. Escaler pushed all-in with her A-3 offsuit and Tiu calling immediately with his A-8 off making her a 2-1 underdog preflop. With the flop 10-9-6, Tiu raised to the lead even more with his inside straight draw moving him further ahead 3-1. The 4 on the turn wasn’t the help either players was needing. But when a 6 came on the river causing them to split the pot, it seemed that that deflated Tiu a little.

A shot at redemption seemed to be at hand a couple of hands later with Tiu pushing all-in and quick call from Escaler, Tiu showed AKd while Escaler had A2h making Tiu a 70% dominating favorite as the flop came but with the Q-9-2 with two diamonds the percentages moved to Escaler with her slim lead of 52-48 to win the hand at that point and when the turn showed 7c, Escaler pushed her advantage to 75-25 to win and with the non-diamond Jack coming on the river, Escaler was now the massive chip lead. The very next hand saw Tiu, out of necessity, push all-in with his 8-4 offsuit but to his surprise, Escaler opened a whopper of a hand with her AK, and with a King coming on the flop, the end was near for Tiu who needed running 8’s or 4’s to salvage the hand and his tournament life, but neither was coming on the turn with a 9 coming and then a six on the river. Giving the tournament and a 32’ Samsung LCD TV to Escaler while Tiu had a trip for two to Hong Kong for his second place finish.

Stay tuned for our next DHH event.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Deal a Helping Hand: Xavier & Poveda HS batch '83




Yes you read right, we are having a soiree between Xavier and Poveda on Saturday, July 21 at the Airport Casino Filipino, but let me explain further. While we have the more traditional DHH event to benefit the Xavier HS batch '83, and will have the usual rebuys and add-ons, we will have a casino night to benefit the Poveda HS Batch of '82-'83, which is sort of the same concept but instead of poker, players get "play" money and need to play at the Super 6, Pontoon and Roulette tables to increase their stack, the player with the biggest stack at the end of the night will win.
Tickets for the DHH: Xavier HS Batch '83 will be at Php 3,000 while tickets for the DHH: Poveda HS Batch '82-'83 will be Php 2,000. You can actually buy tickets for both events which will be discounted at Php 4,500.
Prizes for the DHH: Xavier HS Batch '83 is
1st - 32" LCD TV by LG
2nd - Two (2) Round Trip Tickets MNL-HNG-MNL courtesy of Cebu Pacific
3rd - Two (2) Round Trip Tickets MNL-HNG-MNL courtesy of Philippine Airline
4th - Ipod NANO
5th - Kodak Digital Camera
6th - IHOME IPOD CLOCK/RADIO
7th - Portable DVD player with LCD display
8th - Cell Phone
9th - Brother 3-in-1 printer
10th - Cordless phone by Panasonic
Other prizes for Most Rebuys and Last Stallion (Xavier Graduate) Standing
Prizes for the DHH: Poveda HS Batch '82-'83
1st - Samsung Slim-fit TV
2nd - Ipod Shuffle
3rd - Color Printer
4th - Nokia Cell phone
5th - Two (2) round-trip tickets to Boracay

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Dealt a Helping Hand: Rotary Club of Rizal Southwest

We had our first charity event in our new digs, the Hyatt Casino Filipino last Saturday, March 24 and it was with the Rotary Club of Rizal Southwest to benefit children with Cerebral Palsy.

There was a good mix of our regular poker players and people wanting to help out. We also took out our new blinds and starting stack structures for a spin for this tournament and when the furious action ended we had raised Php 177,000, pushing our total to an astonishing Php 956,000 for DHH events inside Casino Filipino location, (the actual total is over Php 1,000,000 but no one else needs to know). PBT regular Ted Staley won a camoufage Next Base MP3 player (a digital walkman, as I described to him) for having the most rebuys (4) and add-on (1) total. He was more that willing to increase the funds raised himself.

Coming out on top was Kustom Kowboys main man, Kenny Salon, who won his seat the previous week in the last satellite for this DHH event and made the most of it winning a 32" Samsung LCD TV and his midnight deal with the foreigner runner up bagged him the matching Samsung Home Theater kit, very nice especially with an Xbox 360. Nice run Ken.

Final woman standing (which I think is kinda sexist) is, surprise surprise, Claude Bernacer who has been running away with the PBT Player of the Year race so far this year. With one event left in March, she has pushed her lead to an astonishing 219 points over second place John Salcedo. All I can say is WOW. Anyways, she won a coffee maker and a GC from Slimmers' World at the Pan Pacific Hotel aside from her ultra cool poker-themed Zippo lighter, which is now available locally.

All around an awesome tournament. Big thanks to the Rotary Club of Rizal Southwest, Hyatt Hotel, Hyatt Casino Filipino and PlanetMint.

Next DHH will be in May and will benefit the Aquila Legis fraternity. Details to follow . . .

See you at the felt and may the flop be with you.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Dealt A Helping Hand: Aquila Legis

Last saturday was the DHH event to benefit the Ateneo Law School Fraternity, Aquila Legis and if I could describe the players in the tournament it would be, TIGHT.

We designed these DHH events to maximize the funds that would be raised by the organization but as it turned out, there were only 28 rebuys and add-on in a 65 person tournament after the first six levels (2 hours). But, these tournaments are not about rebuys and addons and as the final buzzer rang from the Tournament Director signaling that the final add-on period was over, we had raised over Php 100,000 pesos net for them. Not bad considering that ticket price (2,000) and the rebuy and add-on fee (1,000).

There were a few PBT players that were intermingled with the lawyers and would-be lawyers, at their own risk mind you (PBT and DHH are legally not liable for what happens on the poker table amongs players) and when the dust settled it was John Salcedo, JS III, who became champion and bagged a new Nokia N70 and a trip for 2 to Bora with accommodations. The final hand was a doozy with JS III holding KQ while runner up Teng Miranda was holding 78 and wouldn't you know it, the river put a 10 in a board that had a 9 and a J already, giving both players straights. JS III was first to act and checked but was visibly surprised with Miranda's All-in bet which he called.

Thanks to all the players that played in this tournament and the staff of ACF, who always been spot on with their poker tournaments. It seems that Aquila Legis are looking for a return tournament sometime in May.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Deal a Helping Hand: Aquila Legis

We have the next event in the Deal a Helping Hand Series of charity poker tournaments, this time to benefit the Aquila Legis franternity at the Airport Casino Filipino on Saturday, Feburary 17, registration start at 1pm and the tournament starting at 3pm.

Tickets are Php 2,000 and the starting stack will be 4,000 in chips with unlimited rebuys (Php 1,000 for 2,ooo in chips) until the end of the sixth level and with an optional add-on (Php 1,000 for 4,000 in chips) during the second break til the end of the seventh level.

First prize, worth approximately Php 50,000 include a Nokia N-series phone, SEA Air trip for two to Boracay, three days and two night stay at the Boracay Paradiso, pair of sunglasses from Otica Corp. as well as gift packs from San Miguel and Oxycan

Other prizes include packages which range from Php 30,000 for second place to Php 5,000 to the last person to win a prize as well as for the person with the most re-buys plus add-on.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Dealt a Helping Hand: Yes Foundation

After the bruhaha over the events last Friday, we went to our regularly scheduled poker tournament day, at the Airport Casino Filipino and since it was the 3rd week of the month, it would be for charity, this time the YES! Foundation. They produce the Miss Teen Philippines as well as campus tours that advocate the stopping of underage drinking, drug use and pregnancy. We kept telling them they should have been the NO! Foundation cause they encourage teens to say no to drugs, etc, etc, etc. . . Anyways, back to the game.

I think there were a few players that were taken aback from the previous night's excitement and decided to just stay home for the weekend, but we did have a healthy field of 52 players (of which 26 were regular players) that were competing for the 1st prize which was the WPT Philippines Experience, buy-ins to all FOUR WPT Phils. events including the WPT Phils. Championships.

When the final count was in, after level 6, there were Php 179,000 raised for the YES! Foundation for their projects and after we announced this to the remaining players, there was a huge applause and then quiet, because the tournament had now become serious. There was also a cheer for Jean-Marc Hauducoeur who won a GC for the SPA and two boxes of Evian water for being the player with the most rebuys with six. I know Evian was expensive but Php 12k for two boxes? Hehe, I'm sure the foundation was delighted by his contribution.

The final table on featured two regular players, Jun Del Prado and Joe Davies, both PBT players from the Hard Rock Cafe stops, the rest were players that just got into the tournament by sheer chance or were invited by the foundation. In the end, Michael Poblacion won the WPT Philippines experience package and capped a great day.

See ya next time