My adventure began on March 11th, Tuesday morning when I met up with two of my co-staffers for the event. Janis Sexton and Kyle Morris both experienced as tournament directors along with Dianna Donofrio and her guy friend, Kosta and myself made up the tournament staff. The first evening we met up with a friend of mine in the hotel bar for cocktails. He was kind enough to send us to a great Italian restaraunt called Carmines down on Times Square! We took a few pictures and had a great meal.
Next day we head to the fund raisers offices for meetings and a look see at Cipriani’s. The building for the event was an old bank building that was very ornate with old marble, gold foil and lots of metal works. Totally fabulous. We had some time to kill until we were to meet up with the poker pro’s that were flying in all day for the event. We were to meet at 8:30pm for a private dinner with Montel at a Greek restaraunt across the street from our hotel. So we headed to “Ground Zero”….and boy what a awakening! The constuction going on for the memorial park is certainly emense, but the plaques, fountains, and memorials already erected in the surrounding buildings are both moving emotionally and beautiful in design. Probably the most startling of all was a walk thru of St Pauls Church. This is where all the workers, firemen, police and volunteers took their breaks, ate and slept. There was so much to look at in this church, the people were 3 deep all the way thru and its been over 5 years since the tragedy. This truly makes the tragedy of 911 VERY real and personal for anyone who visits. I never felt so violated in my life.
On a lighter side, we met with all the poker pro’s and Montel for a great dinner and light conversation. Freddie Deeb is a good friend and he I spent hours talking with Montel. I almost felt we were monopolizing his time, but Montel didnt seem to mind. We have some common ground as my stepdaughter has MS and I LUV poker….lol.
Event day the next day, we head to the building early to set up. The people working on the set up amounted to an army. Everything was being done first class. Our poker tables arrived along with all our equipment and supplies so we worked as long as we could before heading back to our hotel to change for the event. The dress for the night was formal or era dress which was the roaring 20’s. I opted for a black tux with a bling red shirt and bling red bow tie. We found out quickly we were working with players who knew nothing about poker except our pro’s. So it was a surprise to see so many of them at the final table. Victor Ramdin came back from the felt to win first place and a 26 carat sapphire. That’s what I said, 26 CARATS!
There was a live auction for a donated poker table that was later autographed by all the poker pro’s and Montel. Bob Daily also brought the felt from the final table of the 2006 WSOP that Jamie Gold autographed and it was auctioned as well. There is an ongoing auction on line for a car at www.charityfolks.com for anyone interested in seeing additional auction items for the fund raiser.
By the end of the night, Montel was feeling the effects of a long night and he had totally over done himself. He had a bit of a MS episode, which we thought we would have to call an ambulance. He was still talking but unable to walk. He took my hand and wouldnt let go. I felt so helpless as his wife ran off to gather some help and their driver to take them home. He said to me, Tina, I know you understand what this is like from your daughter, but I got to hold on here, and walk out on my own….and he did. I’ve never seen anyone so brave and self giving than Montel Williams. I will admire this man until the end and after……….
I am going to try to attach some pics…..
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