When Harrah's East Chicago held its celebrity poker tournament for charity
on July 20, all eyes were on Tom McEvoy.
At least both of mine were. The collection of celebs and media creatures
that filled the tables in Harrah's poker room included one ringer. McEvoy
is a big name in professional poker circles, with a resume of tournament
victories that includes four World Series of Poker titles, including the
1983 no-limit Texas Hold'em championship.
But in the end, the cards rung up the ringer as McEvoy went all in against
Bonnie DeShong of WSRB-FM (106.3). On the river - the last card in Texas
Hold'em - DeShong caught the Queen that filled out a Queens over Aces full
house, sending her to the final table and McEvoy out of the tournament.
"I did it?" she asked excitedly as she was told she'd won the big pot.
"What did I do?"
What she did was to outlast everyone and become the day's big winner. That
was worth a $5,000 donation from Harrah's to be split between her two
designated charities, South Central Community Services Inc. and PLCCA-Act
Inc. Harrah's donated another $1,000 to Friends of Michael Williams, the
charity designated by runner-up John Jurcovic of ESPN Radio, and $500 to
Sheridan Carroll Charitable Works, designated by third-place Ben Ponzio of
WKQX-FM (101.1).
As for me, I was never really in the running. The hand that eliminated me
narrowed the field to two tables, but the handwriting was on the wall long
before that at a table filled with familiar faces - McEvoy among them.
Others included Norm Van Lier, the former star Chicago Bulls guard and
current Fox Sports Chicago analyst; Neil Flynn of the NBC sitcom "Scrubs";
Jesse Rogers of WSCR-AM (670); Jurcovic; Gus Rose, the "Reluctant Gambler"
columnist at Star Publications, and others.
Friends had joked that I'd wind up at a table full of pros, but I had to
do a double-take when I saw McEvoy two seats to my left. I turned to Rose.
"I guess we know who's taking us out," I said, nodding toward McEvoy.
Gus did his own double-take.
As it turned out, McEvoy didn't need to take me out. The antes and blinds
did a nice job of that all on their own. We started with $2,000 worth of
non-negotiable chips, and mine dwindled as I tossed away hand after hand,
with no cards worth playing.
Down to my last $300, I went all in on an unsuited Ace-Jack. I paired the
Ace, and that turned out to be enough to claim the antes and a portion of
a much larger pot. Suddenly, I had $1,800 sitting in front of me.
Back in the game? Not really. On the next hand, I found myself on the big
blind with a forced bet of $1,600 and an unsuited 5 and 3 to show for it.
So much for my moment of glory. My last few measly chips enabled me to
watch the next hand and hope for a miracle, but that was that.
While the survivors finished up play, a band was playing outside on the
top deck while waitresses were bringing around beverages and appetizers,
all part of Harrah's celebration of its recently completed remodeling. Van
Lier, who also had been eliminated, approached.
"I guess they've kicked us both out here," he said, grinning.
Yep. Not a bad consolation prize at all.
***
Just six days earlier, I'd been at Harrah's East Chicago for a tournament
shuffle of a different kind.
On July 14, it was video poker. Harrah's has been holding video poker
tournaments over the last couple of months, but until this one they'd been
restricted to Total Diamond members - a tier above my Total Platinum card.
This time, at least some Total Platinum members received invitations in
the mail. I enjoy video poker tournaments, have finished in the money in a
couple in Las Vegas and won one during the brief period they were held at
Empress in Joliet.
In this one, I spent far longer in line to register than I did actually
playing. With 150 players and just a few hours of play from start to
finish, sessions were only five minutes each. The top 10 scorers from each
of the first-round sessions, along with one randomly drawn also-ran,
advanced to the finals for a further five minutes of play.
My session wasn't exactly the most productive five minutes of video poker
I've ever played. Tournament play was on Double Double Bonus Poker
machines, with a clock counting down the seconds at the center of the
screen, one credit meter showing available credits on the right, and a
separate meter tallying credits won on the left.
One important part of tournament play is to play fast and give yourself as
many chances to hit a big hand as possible. I played 118 hands, but the
big ones never came. I never drew anything better than three of a kind,
and at the end my credits won stood at 330. The average seemed to be in
the 500s, and only those with 900-plus could be reasonably confident of
advancing.
Would I do it again? Certainly, if the tournament fell at a convenient
time. It was fun despite the low score, but the format needs a little work
to be worth a special trip.
