'The Seniors' at the World Poker Challenge

Reno Hilton Cardroom Manager Mike Gainey invited "The Seniors" to host a no-limit hold'em championship tournament at the Reno Hilton's World Poker Challenge recently. The event was an added feature of the World Poker Challenge, and was a charity event in which four prize cash pools were created.

Prize pool No. 1 was for the players, and was created from 97 percent of each player's $300 buy-in. This prize pool was distributed to the winning players in the same manner as all of the other events in the World Poker Challenge.

Cash pool No. 2 was 3 percent of each player's buy-in, or $9, which was distributed to the dealers and staff in the same manner as all of the other events in World Poker Challenge.

Cash pool No. 3 was a charity pool created from a portion of each player's $30 entry fee. The Reno Hilton graciously gave $10 of each entry fee to the charity pool.

Cash pool No. 4 was also a charity pool created by $25 charity rebuys. One optional rebuy per player was permitted. A total of 167 seniors played in the event, and 165 of them made the $25 charity rebuy. What a wonderful group of seniors we have supporting "The Seniors" charities.

The Reno Hilton's contribution of $10 from each player's entry fee ($1,670) and the 165 $25 rebuys ($4,125) resulted in a total of $5,795 that was raised by the players. Half of these funds will remain in Reno to serve local charitable needs.

Many of the 167 players were wearing World Series of Poker bracelets. While space will not permit a complete listing of all of the players who played in this event, rest assured that it would read like a "Who's Who" of the seniors poker world.

The top 10 money winners were:

1. Bill Estes, Dallas, TX $18,194

2. Pat Fleming, Las Vegas, NV 9,446

3. Karel Hejcman, Vancouver, BC 4,829

4. Mike Majerus, Ottowa, IL 3,128

5. Melvin Nelson, Washougal, WA 2,399

6. Tony Nguyen, Merced, CA 1,914

7. Frank Knight, Birmingham, England 1,428

8. Bill Elliott, Austin, TX 1,185

9. Bill Fain, Virginia City, NV 990

10. Gregg Wynn, Phoenix, AZ 796

"The Seniors" organization is proud that "The Seniors" World Championship of Poker is worldwide in its membership, and that players come from all over the world to play in "The Seniors" events, as evidenced by Frank Knight, who came from Birmingham, England, to play in "The Seniors" no-limit hold'em championship at the World Poker Challenge.

"The Seniors" organization, through the help of all of the seniors and participating casinos, has raised more than $24,000 for the Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas.

The next event will be "The Seniors" on the River at the River Palms in Laughlin, Nevada, April 4-6. Then, the granddaddy of them all, "The Seniors" World Championship of Poker, will be held May 18-19 at the World Series of Poker.

Until next time, stay lucky.