Johnny Chan and the Agassi Poker Charity | Did life come first, or was it poker?

Let me say this about that. I had a great time. I got to visit with a few people before the tournament started, got to take some pictures of people in the room without management barking in my face about gaming regulations, and after I busted out I had lunch with Terri, Barry, Aidilly – Kevin joined us for a visit.

Kevin’s responsible for giving me the free ride into the tournament and I enjoyed visiting with him as we waited for the tournament to start. I’ve dealt to him over a long period of time and this was the first time we’ve chatted.

We found out there would be two flights to the tournament, we were playing in the first one, and I didn’t stay long enough to take pictures of the 2nd flight. Those that made it through the 1st flight had about a 2-3 hour wait to play the 2nd flight. I was long gone by that time.

There was a celebrity – with a bounty on them – at each of the tournament tables. Chau Giang was at mine. He busted me as a matter of fact. As all of these go, there wasn’t much play involved. You started with 1K in chips with blinds at $25-50…not a lot of maneuvering room and more like pick a hand and go with it.

I did pick up a few chips but managed to give them back and then found K-QS UTG when I had $350 left and the blinds were $75-150. I raised all-in, Chau called with the A-10H. He started rooting for a K or a Q. We were both laughing as an Ace popped off and then a 10 on the turn as he rooted harder, “Jack-Jack-Jack.” It didn’t happen.

The celebrity pros signed the felt at their tables, a few of the following pictures show the signatures and the signing going on. Sadly, one young ladies that really wanted her picture taken because their ad was on the table felt, I botched the picture. I should have taken a couple to make sure I had a good one. If I put up the one I took, she’d head hunt me for the rest of my life…or hers.

From my perspective, it was very nice to have Johnny Chan come up and talk to me – and he thanked me for coming. It added a very pleasant touch to the whole affair.

Poker Name Brands that I saw (and some are in the following photos):

Cyndy Violette, Eli Elezra, Chau Giang, Scotty Nguyen, Mike Sexton, Kathy Liebert, Johnny Chan, Gavin Smith, Hal Lubarsky, Terri Evanowski, and Barry Tanenbaum, along with others that I’m sure I missed. And since the poker world is made up of common people like you and me, the photos include random shots of people at the tables…welcome to my world!

Without further ado – THE RULES are that you may use these photos for personal use but not for any commercial use or gain, they are my property.