Second Chance Poker Tournament By Carol Ann Hale

My husband, "Oklahoma Johnny" Hale, has been a little busy of late – and he has a little health problem, so I am trying to slow him down a bit. He asked me if I could find time to help him with some of his poker activities. Of course, I also love poker, and agreed to help out with a few things.

One of those things was the Second Chance Poker Tournament. Johnny asked that I be the hostess of the tournament, because he was playing in the big $10,000 event at the WSOP and planned to be the oldest man ever to win it. I said, "Sure, Honey, you go have fun and I will take care of this one."

The Second Chance Poker Tournament was directed by "The Silver Eagle" Bob Thompson ("The Seniors" WCOP/WSOP director), coordinated by Cathleen McCall (director of poker operations for Palace Station Hotel and Casino) and Cathi Woods (former cardroom manager of Binion's Horseshoe and the WSOP).

The Second Chance was designed to fill a void between the championship event at the WSOP and the new $10,000 no-limit event at Bellagio. It was sponsored by "The Seniors" organization, but was open to all players of legal age.

Palace Station Hotel and Casino, which will host "The Seniors" X World Championship of Poker Aug. 4-11, hosted the three-day Second Chance Poker Tournament.

I am always looking for ways to raise money for "The Seniors" charities, so Johnny asked Palace Station to allow $10 of each player's entry fee to go to charity, and he also arranged a small charity rebuy. Last year, through the help of poker players and casinos where "The Seniors" events were held, more than $24,000 was raised for the Nathan Adelson Hospice. I am a member of the Golden Monarch Council of the hospice, so I expressed thanks to Palace Station and the players for their generous help with "The Seniors" charities.

The concept of the tournament was simple: Everyone who was knocked out of a WSOP event, and anyone else who wanted to enter, had a "second chance" to win a big tournament prior to Bellagio's big tournament.

The Second Chance tournament was no-limit hold'em with a $1,000 buy-in and each player receiving $10,000 in chips. A field of 177 players was attracted to participate in the event in the short period of time that was available to advertise it.

Results of the tournament were as follows:

$1,000 no-limit hold'em

Entrants: 177

Prize pool: $177,000

1. Lee Markholt $64,790

2. David Plastik 32,390

3. Ed Palmer 17,020

4. Tom Franklin 11,900

5. O'Neil Longson 8,490

6. Paul Darden Jr. 5,930

7. Taz Kampf 4,220

8. R.J. Voitt 3,360

9. Spike Gallas 2,510

10. Terry Fleisher 2,510

As Johnny would say, thanks for listening, and I will look forward to playing a few hands with you at the second annual Second Chance Poker Tournament next May.