After some fits and starts with organizing the event (don’t get me started) things appear to be smooth sailing mostly due to Teresa Chien from ASAS and the amazing Diana Donofrio who is the Nevada State Director of the Poker Players Alliance and a dear friend. Brian Cooley also stepped up and really pitched in helping get prizes and Katie Lindsay did the same and got a bunch of celebs to commit as well. I managed to get Don Cheadle to commit as well as some other folks like Ali Nejad and Josh Malina among others. It is really coming together and I hope will be a great success. First place is a $10K seat into the main event of the WSOP generously donated by UB.net They are also donating gift bags.

Here’s the press release on the event. Please join me and make this a huge success!

The Best Female Poker Player in the World Plays for the
Strongest Governor in California

Annie Duke Celebrity Poker Night To Benefit After-School All-Stars

Los Angeles, CA – April 27, 2010 – A seat to the 2010 World Series of Poker Tournament and a personal Segway is up for grabs at Annie Duke’s next charity poker tournament. In support of After-School All-Stars, Governor Schwarzenegger’s after-school nonprofit for at-risk youth, Duke is hosting a celebrity-filled tournament on May 20th, 7:30 pm, at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, California. Special guests include Don Cheadle (Iron Man 2), David Zayas (Dexter), Sara Rue (Eastwick), and many more. With Ultimate Bet headlining sponsorship of the event and dozens of product sponsors, players will be playing for nearly $35,000 in prizes and bidding on $20,000 in silent auction items. Entries for the tournament are $250 per player with $100 re-buys and $75 for non-players, all proceeds going to After-School All-Stars. For more information or to reserve a seat, go to www.afterschoolallstars.org/poker, or contact teresa@afterschoolallstars.org.

Additional confirmed celebrities to-date include: Trishelle Cannatella (The Real World), Jennifer Elise Cox (The Brady Bunch Movie), Rafe Furst (poker player), Scott Ian (Anthrax), Adam “Roothlus” Levy (poker player), Tiffany Michelle (poker player), Shanna Moakler (Meet the Barkers), Joshua Molina (The West Wing), Ali Nejad (Poker After Dark), Brian Peeler (Workout). Dianna Donofrio-Trigatzi, Nevada State Director of the Poker Players Alliance will act as Guest Tournament Director.

“ASAS (After-School All-Stars) is simply an amazing organization. The children they serve live in some of the most poverty-stricken areas in the country where their other options are gangs, drugs, or worse,” says Duke. “ASAS not only gives them a safe place to be while their parents work, but also provides them additional support in school work and outlets for expression through extracurricular activities. Poker players can be incredibly generous people, so it was a no-brainer for me that this event should happen.”

Tournament registration includes $1,000 in chips, $10 food voucher for any restaurant at Commerce Casino, access to the silent auction, and a gift bag. On-site registration begins at 6:00 pm.

About After-School All-Stars
Founded by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1992, After-School All-Stars is the leading national provider of high quality, comprehensive, school-based after-school programs that include academic support, enrichment, and health and physical fitness activities. Assisting 80,000 at-risk youth a year, the organization’s mission is to keep children safe and help them achieve in school and in life. Currently, After-School All-Stars operates in 13 U.S. cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, San Antonio, San Diego, San Jose and South Florida. For more information, visit www.afterschoolallstars.org

Anyway, please watch this. It is eye opening.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Talk to parents at The Haverford School

Enjoy!

On the completely out of practice note I don’t think people realize how important it is to be in the rove in these tournaments.  I found the first day go by very slowly, which for me is very odd since poker time has always passed very quickly for me.  I think I was having a lot of difficulty getting back into the swing of it, back into the rhythm of the table, the rhythm of calls and raises and folds and breaks and banter.  By the end of the day I was feeling more in the groove but I am not sure I ever really got my feet under me.  I have lost a bit of that rhythm and that rhythm is so important to feeling when to call, when to raise, when to fold in any give hand against any given opponent.  I imagine it will all come back really quickly but I was definitely out of sorts.

By day 2, I found myself just not reading my opponents well.  On both days I did fine.  I didn’t do anything stupid and I played a very solid game.  But that feel I usually have that allows me to pick up that extra edge with moves that require a sort of sixth poker sense it definitely rusty.  I don’t think people usually think of poker as a game that you need to be in practice to play well.  I imagine they just think you sit at a table, hope for good cards and play.  But I am finding out keenly that this is not at all the case.  Not even close.  I have always known that but I have never taken this much time off from tournament poker so right now I am feeling that groove or lack thereof really sharply.

One of the main places I am feeling it is in knowing when to flat call a hand preflop and when to reraise.  My timing seems to be off with that and I have found myself flat calling hands that I really should have put the pressure on with and reraising a few where I stepped into the fourth bet and had to fold.  I am usually pretty sharp on my timing with that kind of thing but it is rusty for sure right now.

So I have to head into day 3 of a tournament where first place is $1.5 million and hope that after 10 levels of play I have my feel back when I walk into the room tomorrow.  That is a big ask and a big hope but I am optimistic.  That fact that I haven’t impaled myself on my own rustiness yet this tournament is encouraging.  And I definitely have felt like my reads are returning as the tournament goes on.  I am planning on playing a ton of tournaments before the WSOP so I believe the spring will sharpen my game enough for me to really be in stride of the most important time of the poker year.  If I am not in shape in June then my poker year will be screwed.  So let’s hope I don’t completely dump off on the way to tuning up for the summer.