CFF Charity Tourney

A few days ago Andy Bloch (@Andy_Bloch) posted on Twitter that he was coming to Seattle to play in a charity tournament for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I've always been a fan of Mr. Bloch and the way he carries himself at the table (at least what they shown of him on TV) so I was intrigued. Also my wife used to work in CF research and what I learned from her about the disease is that Cystic Fibrosis is something that I would not even wish upon my worst enemy, or likely their children since people with CF do not have long life expectancies. So with the possibility of playing poker with my wife's blessing, and for a good cause, I looked into it further.

The website for the event was somewhat vague on the details except for that the buy-in was $300. Well, for $300 you get a "VIP Player & Casino Guest Night Ticket" which I imagine is their way to work around probably some stupid state gambling law. "The Draw" (aka first prize) is a seat to the World Series of Poker Main Event. Now, calling it "the Draw" is a little confusing. I think they meant that the draw of the poker tournament is the ME seat, but of course it could also be read as there is a drawing for the seat. Unfortunately not much useful information (e.g. number of entrants, structure etc.) was available on the website.

After badgering Mr. Bloch with my questions on Twitter I decided I should just call the number listed on the website and ask. So I called and talked to very helpful woman who gave me probably as much information as she could. And here it is.

The number of entries will be capped around 180. There will be unlimited rebuys and an add-on for either $60 or $80 (she was doing this all from memory and not at her desk) for the first few levels. The early rounds will likely be about 45 minutes and will shorten as the field is reduced with the aim being to wrap up the tourney around midnight (starts around 7:00 after the conclusion of a live auction). Mr. Bloch said that the event was a shootout however the woman I spoke to mentioned that tables would be collapsed down so it's unclear if that is indeed the case. She did say that the final table would be 9-handed. As of Friday there were about 100 people already registered for the event.

I imagine a lousy structure with a very mixed level of play. But it's for a good cause and I might get to meet Andy Bloch so sign me up!