Full Tilt Poker Hosts Memorial Tournament Today

She was a mother of two. A wife of 23 years. A former model and an up-and-coming poker player. She was funny and she was brash. She was Mindy.

Today, Full Tilt will remember and honor the woman who took the poker community by storm and who so suddenly passed away last October after a six-week battle with leukemia. At 4 p.m. PST, Erick Lindgren at Full Tilt will host a $10 tournament that is open to the public ($5 to the prize pool, $5 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Mindy Trinidad’s memory).

Trinidad made the final table and finished in seventh place in the World Series of Poker ladies event in 2007, and she won the ladies event at the Summer Pot of Gold in Reno in July.

But it was soon after that Reno tournament that Trinidad began to feel ill. She was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia on Aug. 28, and passed away on Oct. 9 at the age of 48.

Her friends remember her as a vivacious woman, full of life and eager to have a good time.

“She used to say to us that she had a very charmed and privileged life,” said friend and fellow poker player Kelli Griggs. “She’d say, ‘I got it good.’”

After a career as a model that took her around Europe, she settled down and married her husband Dan Trinidad 23 years ago. They had two children, Corey, 19, and Trevor, 17.

But a few years ago she got the poker bug, and soon she was playing every chance she got.

“She played on Full Tilt and PokerStars just about every free moment she had,” said Jo Ann Bryan, a friend of Trinidad’s for the past three years.

Although she was a fierce competitor, she didn’t hesitate to have a good time at the tables. She would constantly chat with her opponents, and often despite themselves, they would engage with her at the tables.

Bryan remembers the first time she met Trinidad, at a poker tournament. Trinidad befriended the table, asking about everyone — where they were from, what they did. Bryan has a personal policy not to talk during a tournament, but she couldn’t help herself. She started talking with Trinidad, and pretty soon, they both realized they were from the same town in the Sacramento area. They were fast friends from that moment on.

“If you ever met her, you loved her,” said Bryan. “It was that simple.”

As of 9 a.m. PST, 142 players are registered for the Full Tilt tourney. To register, go to the ‘Private’ tab. The password is “charity.” Sixteen “red pros” are currently scheduled to play, including Lindgren, Allen Cunningham, Cyndy Violette, and Lee Watkinson.

The winner of the tournament will also receive a free “World” model Curtis and Co. watch, valued at $2,200. If you need to create an account, remember that Card Player readers are eligible for a Full Tilt deposit bonus.

The Hard Rock Casino will also host its own star-studded event in Mindy’s honor on Dec. 12. Check back at CardPlayer.com next week for details on its memorial tournament.

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