EVENT #18: Press/Celebrity Invitational
TOTAL PRIZE MONEY: $2,500
ENTRIES IN THIS EVENT: 21
Report by Don Larrimore
Rockin' n' Rollin' over a field of poker notables and wannabes, Tommy Davis, program director for a Tunica, MS alternative rock radio station, surprised himself and enthusiastic spectators by winning the Texas Hold'em Press/Celebrity Invitational at the Jack Binion World Poker Open.
"I'm very excited. This was total beginner's luck," said Davis, 28, with commendable honesty. "I've never played poker before, except a few nights this week with my wife for pennies and nickels. This was the only tournament of any kind I've ever entered."
The real winner was the Sacred Heart Catholic children's charity of Desoto county, Mississippi, designated by Davis to receive his $2,500 first-place prize money which was donated jointly by the Gold Strike Casino Resort and the Horseshoe Casino Hotel.
Davis's station, 96.1 FM "The Phantom," broadcasts such multi-platinum artists as "Nine Inch Nails," "Red Hot Chilipeppers" and "Smashing Pumpkins." He described alternative rock as "a little bit of everything -- pop, rock, rap, jazz and funk."
Unexpectedly, both the winner and runner-up in this relaxed and convivial tournament are complete poker novices but do play blackjack. Second place honors went to Leesha Faulkner, publisher and co-owner of Southern Gaming, a monthly pioneering next month in Mississippi and Louisiana. She said she knew nothing about poker until the previous day when, to prepare for this tournament, "I played a few hands on the Internet so I wouldn't be totally ignorant."
Unawed by his other competitors because he didn't know who they were, Davis prevailed at a final table which included casino owner and famed tournament sponsor Jack Binion, Mandalay Bay Resort Group Director of Poker Operations Don Archer, editor, Poker Digest writer and longtime poker dealer Lynne Loomis, and poker author and columnist Bob Ciaffone.
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