Charity Series of Poker to Host CSOP Awards and Tournament
It is most certainly awards season. The poker community is gearing up for the 4th Annual Global Poker Awards on March 3, but there is another awards ceremony to take place sooner. The Charity Series of Poker is hosting its own CSOP Awards on February 21, along with a tournament and silent auction to raise money for its tenth season of fundraising.
The Global Poker Awards is in its fourth year. The ceremony is set for March 3 in Las Vegas, with dozens of honors to be presented and members of the poker community to be recognized.
There is another awards ceremony planned, though. This one won’t offer the same high-profile nominees or elegant trophies, but it will reward those who make the Charity Series of Poker the success that it is. As the CSOP prepares to enter its tenth season of charity tournaments on behalf of numerous organizations, it wants to recognize those who make it possible.
At the same time, the CSOP will host a dinner, poker tournament, and silent auction to purchase equipment for the upcoming tenth season.
NINE SEASONS OF CSOP
The Charity Series of Poker was the brainchild of professional poker player Matt Stout. He knew the generosity of the poker community was unique, and so many organizations wanted to work with poker to raise funds for their causes. Stout believed that one overarching charity group could facilitate more events on a bigger scale. So, he created the CSOP.
The nonprofit that is the Charity Series of Poker was founded in 2014. Since then, it has hosted 44 official events and raised nearly $3M for its beneficiary charities. Some of them include St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Habitat for Humanity, Three Square Food Bank, Vegas Golden Nights Foundation, and Folded Flag Foundation.
Stout founded the CSOP and remains integrally involved as its president. Brian Kip serves as CSOP Vice Presiden, with others like Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Lacey Jones, Matt Savage, Russ Fox, Tom Marchese, and Gershon Distenfeld as just some of the members of the Board of Directors.
Some of the casino world partners and sponsors of the CSOP include Aria, Borgata, Faded Spade, GPI (Global Poker Index), Gorilla Gaming, Planet Hollywood, PokerGO, PokerNews, RunGood Gear, and Commerce Casino – to name a few.
FEBRUARY 21 EVENT
At the core of the February 21 event is the dinner and poker tournament. Normally, these activities would benefit a particular charity, but this time – Event 45 – will benefit the CSOP itself.
The CSOP does need to raise money for itself from time to time, to maintain its ever-expanding role in hosting events for other beneficiaries. Money raised from this February 21 event will give the CSOP the opportunity to buy more poker tables, chips, computers, television screens, and other equipment. This allows the CSOP to bring all of these tools, free of charge, to events. Thus, more money raised goes directly to the charities instead of extra overhead.
The February 21st event will take place at the Brasil Steakhouse in Las Vegas, starting with the dinner at 5:30pm. The poker tournament will then begin at 7pm. There are many ways to support:
- Dinner ticket $150
- Dinner & tournament entry tickets $300
- Tournament rebuys/add-ons $100 each
- Dinner, tournament entry, and Full House sponsorship $1,000
- Dinner, tournament entry, and Four of a Kind sponsorship $2,000
- Dinner, tournament entry, and Straight Flush sponsorship $3,000
- Dinner, tournament entry, and Royal Flush sponsorship $5,000
Anyone can buy tickets on the CSOP website.
There will also be a silent auction online and at the February 21st event. There are numerous seat packages to Vegas Golden Knights games, autographed hockey pucks, sports packages, restaurant gift cards, and yoga and skincare packages. Poker-related items and their starting bids are:
- Seat in a celebrity cash game to play $1/$3 with Daniel Negreanu or Phil Hellmuth ($500)
- Two-night stay at Aria ($250)
- CSOP tournament seat ($150)
- Poker lesson with Matt Stout ($100)
- Range Trainer Pro solver program ($300)
- Brad Garrett Comedy Club tickets for two and meet/greet ($400)
CSOP AWARDS
For the first time, the Charity Series of Poker looks to honor those who have made the series possible, including volunteers and sponsors.
Two events already have winners. Event 37, which benefited St. Jude, is the Earner of the Year, and Event 43 was the Breakout Event of the Year to benefit FEAT (Families for Effective Autism Treatment).
Other awards, all with winners to be announced at the February 21st event, are:
- Rookie of the Year (Food Bank of Northern Nevada, Curl Vegas, Hit Living Foundation, Folded Flag Foundation)
- Volunteer of the Year (Joseph Wills, Mary Bodine, Amanda Rangel, Chris Wallace)
- Sponsor of the Year (Gorilla Gaming, Lexicon Bank, Right Touch Awards, Revolt Tattoos)
- Photo of the Year (FEAT Golden Knight, HLF puppies, St. Jude winner, St. Jude paddles)
- Daniel Negreanu Extra Effort Award (Joseph Wills/Toni Hitchcock, Stacy Watkins/Russell Rosenblum, Chris Wallace/iNinja Poker Tour, Bar Poker Open/Gorilla Gaming)
- Mike Sexton Ambassador Award (Joe Ingram, Anthony Zinno, Joseph Wills, Jesse Fullen)
- Emcee of the Year (Brad Garrett, Joe Stapleton, Jeff Platt, Brandon Hahn)
- People’s Choice Event of the Year (St. Jude, HLF, FEAT, TRF)
NEXT UP
The next date on the CSOP calendar will be March 25. The Slay Cancer with Poker event will benefit the Tyler Robinson Foundation, started by Imagine Dragons to strengthen families emotionally and financially while dealing with a pediatric cancer diagnosis.
That event will be at the Stirling Club in Las Vegas, with a reception beginning at 5:30pm and tournament at 7pm. There will be a silent auction for this event as well.