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

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Deal a Helping Hand: YES! Foundation

Event: Deal a Helping Hand: YES! Foundation
Venue: Airport Casino Filipino, Paranaque
Date: September 16, 2006
Reg: 12:00 nn
Starts: 2:30pm
Ticket Price: Php 3,000
Rebuys: Unlimited until the end of level 6 (Php 2,000 for 2,000 in chips)
Add-on: At the end of level 6 (Php 2,000 for 3,000 in chips)

Prizes:
1st - WPT Philippines Experience (Seat certificate for all three regular 10k+2k WPT Phils events AND for the 25k+3k WPT Phils Championship)
2nd - Seat certificate for WPT Phils event and a DVD Player/LCD TV Combo
3rd - DVD Player/LCD TV Combo
and many more!


YES! Inc. recognizes that the youth is a powerful sector in Philippine society, and that their active participation in creating a just, humane and productive society is imperative and inevitable. Accordingly, YES! Inc. is committed in developing well-rounded, educated and self-reliant Filipino youth leaders who shall inspire and motivate their peers to be responsible and productive citizens of the Philippine society. Through their “Teen Health Talk” School Tour and Miss Teen Philippines Summer Youth Camp.

See you guys there.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Dealt a Helping Hand: Benjo Marquez

We started a little late, 2:59pm, but it was because we had a new group of players that we had to orientate about the tournament rules we used at the Airport Casino Filipino. Once we got underway, it only took one hand to get our first rebuy and another hand for our second.

What sort of foreshadowing, you might think, but once the dust settled after level 6, we had seated 101 players in eight tables (we just kept putting players in seats where other players busted out from, hey, its for charity anyways) with 40+ rebuys and 15 add-ons. All said and told, we raised around Php 220,000 for Mr. Benjo Marquez, who had a guest appearance through a recorded a light-hearted AVP which tugged at the hearts of all the players (I did see some misty eyed people in the crowd) and boosted the spirits of all.

In the end, eight and a half hours into the tournament, Alan Escano emerged victorious over regular ACF player Kim Il Kwon in the heads-up portion of the tournament. Mr. Escano walked away with Php53k worth of gift certificates including one GC for a fully-customized poker table from Kustom Kowboys. Mr. Kim walked away with Php40k worth of GC's including a Techno Marine Watch. Other notables in the final table is Neil "Dirty Ice Cream" Arce who finished 5th and has had two "Deal a Helping Hand" final table appearances this time bagging Php15k worth of GC's including the much sought-after gift certificate for an overnight stay at Seawind, Boracay.

Special thanks to the organizers of the event, Rose, Sookie, Celine and Kai who were relentless in their solicitation of sponsorships before the tournament and who gave all the players, tournament staff and including some spectators goodies to enjoy during and after the event, most notably the tons (literally) of free food from NY Fries and Dip.

Again another top-notch job by the Airport Casino Filipino staff from SBM Bobby Reyes, Ernie Reyes, Richard Gabriel, Cocoy (don't call me Maggie) Dela Riva and the rest of the Marketing staff and of course Emi Mungcal and the rest of the tournament staff.

Next up for Deal a Helping Hand is the YES! Foundation on September 17. More info in the weeks to come.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Benjo Marquez (August 12)

Event: All in for Benjo, A Benefit Texas Hold-'Em Poker Tournament
Venue: Airport Casino Filipino, Paranaque
Reg: 12:00 nn
1st Deal: 1:30 pm
Ticket Price: Php 2,000
Rebuys: Unlimited until the end of level 6
Add-on: At the end of level 6

Get the chance to win one of these prizes:
- your very own customized poker table from Kustom Kowboys worthP35K( www.kustomkowboys.com)
- an overnight stay at Seawind Boracay
- 20K item from Technomarineand many more!

Benjo Marquez is a DJ in the social scene who was recenty diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkins Disease. He is 24. There will be his mixed CD's there to listen and to buy.

See you guys there.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Dealt a Helping Hand: Nova Foundation

A big thank you to all who supported our first charity event in the Deal a Helping Hand series, this time the beneficiary was the Nova Foundation for the Differently Abled. We raised about Php260,000 for the foundation with 76 participants. How did we manage that? I'll tell ya . .

I think after the slow start, registering about 50 new people into our system was the culprit as well as the last-minute influx of players, we got underway and had a wild first six levels. Wild would be an understatement, all heck broke loose with all rebuys that players bought, and since it was for the Nova Foundation, it was all good. One of the players, Kit Mendoza, rebought 8 times, which netted him a prize from Nova, a 3D/4N stay at Fairways and Blue Waters, Boracay. NICE . . After the dust settled after level 6 and we were tallying the numbers, we ended up with 52 REBUYS and 4 add-ons.

After it was all said and done, Pokemon walked away with the 32" LCD TV, which I was hoping he would forget, cause I cleared some space already in my condo the night before for it . . . Oh well, its for charity anyways. Other players from the community that did well included Neil Arce who bagged 8th and an Ipod and then traded up for the 7th place prize, a 29" TV, (I think future draft picks were involved as well, hehe) and Atty. Eric Sia who won 6th and a Canon digicam.

Again, thank you to the regular players that played, to the celebrities that made the event a little more fun. A big thanks to the crack staff at Airport Casino Filipino, who are becoming the best tournament crew in Manila, especially TD Emi Mungcal and the new bosses there, SBM Bobby Reyes.

Next up for Deal A Helping Hand - Benjo Marquez. You might know of him as a DJ in the local party scene, but you might not know is that he was diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkins Disease, or lymphoma. The charity event will be on August 12, 2006 and tickets this time is Php 2,000. First prize is a poker table from Ken of Kustom Kowboys and a trip to Bora (I think). See you there and help us Deal a Helping Hand.

Marco
PBT/DHH

Monday, July 10, 2006

Additional Info on the July 15 tourney

There will be celebrities playing as well in this tournament and we will be sitting one celebrity per table. Those who have confirmed include:

Asia Agcaoili
Jeni Hernandez
Karel Marquez
Aliya Parcs
The Jaboom Twins
Happee Sy
Cesca Liltton
Angel Rivero
Michael De Mesa
Buboy Garovillo

Here is the blind structure we are using for this Saturday's tournament. Starting Stack is 6k with rebuys of Php 2,000 for 4k in chips.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Nova Foundation for the Differently Abled (July 15)

We will be pre-empting the usual ACF1k event on July 15 for our first charity event which will be for the Nova Foundation for the Differently Abled at the Airport Casino Filipino. The tickets are now available and are Php 3,000 each which is broken down as Php 2,ooo buy-in plus Php 1,000 entry fee and while the buy-ins are going to the foundation, the people from the Nova Foundation have put up some very nice prizes.

Winner - 32" LCD TV
Second - 32" Flat TV
Third - Acer Laptop
Fourth - Nokia N90
Fifth - Sony DVD Camcorder
Sixth - Canon Poweshot S2i
Seventh - 29" Flat TV
Eighth - Apple Ipod 20GB
Ninth - Apple Ipod Nano
Tenth - Sony DVD Player

As an added come-on, we have invited some celebrities to play the tournament so there will be 11 players per table. We'll update the list of celebrities that will be coming soon.

The starting stack will be 6k and there will be unlimited re-buys for the first six levels at Php 2,000 getting 4k in tournament chips. At the end of the sixth level, during the second break, we will have an optional add-on for the players regardless of chip stack, again Php 2,000 will get you 4k in tournament chips. All of the re-buys and add-ons will go to the foundation.

If you are interested please contact me through email