Former “Seinfeld” actor Jason Alexander, who is a familiar sight at some of the world’s largest poker events, will lend his high-profile name to a special charity tournament benefiting the 1736 Family Crisis Center in Los Angeles. The festivities take place at Hollywood Park Casino on May 9th at 2:00pm local time.
Alexander took tenth place in the Ante Up for Africa charity poker tournament held during the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP). Next month, he’ll be joined by Dianna Donofrio, the Nevada State Director for the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), and Leyna Nguyen, an Emmy Award winning news anchor for KCBS and KCAL in Los Angeles. Poker players scheduled to partake in the May 9th event include 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion and Team PokerStars Pro member Greg Raymer, 2006 WSOP Main Event Champion and ACED Poker pro Jamie Gold, and WSOP veteran Chip Jett.
The charity poker tournament’s sponsors include Toyota Financial Services, All In Magazine, and Webexposure.com. A press release announcing the event explains that it presents a unique opportunity “for a fun-filled day of poker, laughter, food and celebration – and victory over domestic violence. Each hand played will be a strong step towards ending domestic violence and helping youth who have been abused and abandoned.”
1736 Family Crisis Center has been benefiting the community for the last 36 years and operates a total of five shelters. In addition, it also runs three outpatient clinics throughout the metro area and five around-the-clock emergency treatment centers. The press release explains, “The Center relies 100% on grants and donations to provide much-needed services to victims of abuse and abandoned youth. In this uncertain economic climate, non-profits have been hit the hardest and sadly, an unstable economy statistically fuels domestic violence. Please help us by joining in to play poker with Jason and his friends as we become part of the solution to end domestic violence.”
The tournament boasts a buy-in of $250 with $100 rebuys. For those who would rather catch a glimpse of the Hollywood and poker worlds colliding rather than actually play, spectator passes are available for $75. First place comes with a $10,000 cash prize, the runner up will receive an “eco-friendly” poker table, third place takes home a WSOP Boot Camp package donated by “Celebrity Apprentice” candidate and Ultimate Bet pro Annie Duke, and fourth place will receive a cruise for two. In total, the top ten finishers will receive prizes.
Interested poker players can purchase tickets through the 1736 Family Crisis Center’s website or by calling 310-543-9900, Extension 210. Alternately, donations and buy-ins can be mailed directly to the facility. Other opportunities available include an All-In Sponsor for $25,000, a Royal Flush sponsor for $10,000, a Straight Flush sponsor for $5,000, and a Table Sponsor for $3,000. Program advertising ranges from $100 for a quarter page ad to $500 for a full page spread.
On April 20th, 2008, “Everybody Loves Raymond” actor Brad Garrett hosted a charity Texas Hold’em tournament benefiting the Crisis Center, which helped over 25,000 domestic violence victims last year. Hollywood Park runs a variety of poker tournaments that coincide with its horse racing offering, including weekday “Poker and Ponies” tournaments with a $30 buy-in and $4,000 in guaranteed prize money. On Saturdays and Sundays, the price of poker increases to $70. The card room spreads Limit and No Limit Texas Hold’em, Omaha High-Low, Seven Card Stud, and even a $20-$40 half Seven Card Stud High-Low half Omaha High-Low game. Hollywood Park also runs a full Bingo operation and casino.