Huge Poker Charity Success

When it comes to charity events, the game of poker has always gladly put its hand in its pockets to help those in need. Usually we hear about the biggest pros turning out to support different causes, such as Vanessa Selbst's charity play, but as a recent event in Las Vegas show, there is a huge mix of people involved in such endeavours.

This year’s ‘ Ante4autism’ poker tournament – an annual event held during the Las Vegas Market – raised more than $100,000 from its Sunday charity game in the Golden Nugget Casino’s Grand Event Center, with Chad Coconis running out the winner.

Coconis, who runs Coconis Furniture of South Zanesville, Ohio finished ahead of 2nd-placed Jeff Yellen (Great American) while Las Vegas’ Jerrold Neal came in 3rd.

“We are still counting the proceeds, but we have already surpassed $103,000,” said tournament founder Doug Krinsky, with the funds raised being shared amongst five charities that support children and adults with autism and their families.

The charities are Oakstone Academy, The Kelly O’Leary Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Autism Speaks, National Autism Association Southeast Ohio Chapter, and Bike To The Beach for Autism, all of which will benefit from the poker community’s largesse.

The No Limit Hold’em event saw a $125 buy-in, with $40 re-buys, and a guaranteed prize-pool of $10,000, and managed to draw famous players and celebrities such as Jennifer Harmon and Karina Jett from the poker world, plus Randy Couture of UFC fame, Jose Canseco, the former Major League Baseball player, Jackie Ibarra from Big Brother, and Eric Aude, actor and professional poker player

Also included in the day’s entertainment was a silent auction featuring sports memorabilia and entertainment items.

Al Adler, for example, donated a ‘private plane weekend getaway’ which was auctioned live on the Sunday night. in addition to the presenting sponsorSerta Simmons Bedding, there were a host of other sponsors happy to invest in the charity event, including the Final Table sponsors, Symbol Mattress.

The success of this grass-roots charity event in aid of autism charities can be seen from its rapid growth: in its inaugural event back in 2009 the total sum raised for charity was only $6,220, but every year since that sum has grown massively– this year’s event raising a final total of $110,642 - almost $37,000 more than last years - with the next edition scheduled for January 22nd 2017.

The full list of sponsors was as follows:

$15,000 Presenting sponsor: Serta Simmons Bedding;

$10,000 Double Diamond sponsors: Ashley Furniture Inds. and Leggett & Platt;

$10,000 Final Table Sponsors: Symbol Mattress and APAR Management; $5,000 Diamond sponsor: Karl and Cathi Glassman;

$2,500 Platinum sponsors: Eclipse/Eastman House, A. Lava & Son, High Risk Pregnancy Center;

$1,000 Gold sponsors: Shari Wagner, Roger and Jeanne Magowitz, Mantua Mfg., Myra Stone and Jake Monnier, Restonic;

$500 Silver sponsors: Furniture Fair, Coconis Furniture, Jones Fiber, Big Sandy Superstore, Quality Mattress Outlet, Larry McKay, Angelique and Kent Clark, CFS, Maxime Knitting, and Richmond Furniture Gallery;

$250 Bronze sponsors: Judi & Kerry Lebensburger, Customatic Adjustable Bedz and Dutch Boyd.

Merchandise donations were received from the Triton Warrier chip company, Al Adler, PureCare, Malouf, Huffman Koos Furniture, Tempur Sealy, Serta Simmons Bedding, Restonic of Indiana, Keith Caldwell, Penn & Teller, Chip & Karina Jett, The Layout Company, Autism Speaks, Poker Stars, and the Golden Nugget of Las Vegas.

Anyone looking to get involved or play at the next event should check out here.