Big hands at South Burlington poker tourney

SOUTH BURLINGTON -- "Big hand!"

A small crowd thronged a table in the DoubleTree Hotel Burlington on Sunday afternoon, as poker enthusiasts craned their necks to see whether pro player Spiro Mitrokostas would come up big. The assemblage burst into cheers and groans when Colchester resident Barney McRae jumped up from his seat, arms raised in victory.

McRae's pair of queens trumped Mitrokostas' pair of threes -- McRae had just cashed in on a $1,000 bounty challenge to eliminate the pro from the tournament.

"When I met him, I told him I was putting him on notice! On tilt. It's a poker term," McRae, a local race car driver, said with a laugh a few minutes later as he leaned over to shake Mitrokostas' hand.

The players were among 186 at the DoubleTree on Sunday for a Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament to benefit Make-A-Wish Vermont. The first in what organizers hope will become an annual tradition of large-scale tournaments, Sunday's poker showdown raised nearly $10,000 for Make-A-Wish -- and promised a $10,000 prize to the player with the best hands over the course of the day.

At 10:50, nearly 11 hours after the competition began, Patrick Finnigan of Burlington and Colchester resident Mary Mead agreed on a concession. Finnigan took home first place and $7,900 while Mead agreed to finish in second place and walked away with $5,000.

Before a winner was declared, piles of multi-colored chips in front of each player rose and fell during the tense hands, and organizer John Crabbe, president and founder of Vermont Tent Co., remarked that his voice was beginning to go hoarse.

Crabbe said last week that the tournament was scheduled for this weekend to appeal to local players and pros in New England for the World Poker Finals, which wrapped up Thursday at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn. Nick Schulman, a 22-year-old New Yorker who won $2.14 million in the finals at Foxwoods last year, sat at one table early in the competition; Mitrokostas sat at another.

Both were working with bounties on their backs. If an amateur player were to defeat any of the pros gathered Sunday, the victor received a special cash prize. Both were knocked out well before the final rounds.

Mitrokostas said he has lived on Cape Cod for 51 years, but Sunday marked his first trip to Vermont. He said he was impressed by the state and the tournament.

"For a locally organized tournament, it's very good. It seems to be turning out well," Mitrokostas said. Despite being knocked out early, "I'm still very happy to be here with all these wonderful people."

courtesy of Victoria Welch

News Added: 21 November, 2006

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