Posted by Dr Fro 9:28 AM
Not so fast...

No sooner did I write my last post that I ran into this. Evidently, the authorities have put the kabosh on ACH's tournament.

Contrast this with the KDGE Dallas tournament where:

Each player pays zero dollars ($0.00) to play in the tournament. At no time will any player be asked for money to play in the tournament (before, during, or after the tournament.) First place wins 2 Round Trip Tickets to Las Vegas / 1 Week Hotel Room / 1 Entry ($10,000 max) into the World Series of Poker.

Now that's legal, but it is really hard to rasie money for charity with a $0 entry fee, even with 1,000 players. Well, maybe - MAYBE if you get just an absolute ton of volume of players, you could raise some money.

5 Comment(s):

Posted by  Johnnymac, at 1:22 PM, May 15, 2005  

My boss was involved a little bit with the local radio tournament here in Houston - they raised money for the Houston Food Bank and they did so by selling sponsorships. As there was no money "in the game" so to speak, there was nothing illegal about it. I'm sure the KDGE tourney is the same way.

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Posted by  Junelli, at 11:37 PM, May 15, 2005  

I'm actually glad that the authorities have stopped the Hellmuth's tournament. What better way to bring the spotlight to the issue of legalizing poker, than have the cops shut down a charity tournament benefitting breast cancer. It makes them look bad, and rallies support for the cause.

I think in the long run, this will be good for poker in Texas.

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Posted by  Anonymous, at 6:45 AM, May 17, 2005  

I think it would have been better if the tournament was allowed to go on. It would have provided a perfect platform for getting media attention on the subject. I'm not finding any reports about the cancellation at all... Only discussions and blogs.. It's a pretty dim spotlight if you ask me...

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Posted by  Anonymous, at 10:56 AM, May 17, 2005  

It's a fine line.

What's to stop Junell and I from starting a "Charity Poker Club" tomorrow, charge a "management fee" that eats up 95% of the revenue generated, and donate the other 5% to charity?

I think the authorities thought that Vegas Style and Phil Hellmuth were making too much off the deal under the guise of "charity."

I agree that there ought to be a way to hold a charity poker event. I just don't know how you can do it unless all the prizes are donated, and all the money paid by the players goes to cover actual costs of the event and then to charity.

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Posted by  Johnnymac, at 8:29 AM, May 18, 2005  

Parker hit the nail on the head. It's too damn hard to regulate it.

I have done a little research on pokercampus and some of the other blogs and it seems that TABC was the party that shut them down. The organizers apparently went to the DA and got permission and either forgot about or ignored TABC. As Reliant Park has a liquor license (so Aramark can sell $7 beers, the bastards), TABC shares jurisdiction.

I am a little surprised that these guys would forget about TABC (or that the DA wouldn't somehow close the loop for them). And although I am personally against legalized casino and poker gambling in Texas, I somewhat agree with Junell that this is a good thing because it will force the legislature to clean up the ambiguity in the law one way or the other.

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