University of Missouri students descended onto the campus's Memorial Hall to play poker Sunday, and although the winner received an iPod Nano, the real winner was the Central Missouri Food Bank.
This was the third year junior Steve Labac organized the tournament to benefit the food bank. He secured money from the Residents Hall Association (RHA) to provide prizes and the only things students had to bring were themselves and at least five canned items to play.
But most students brought 10 canned items, because for every can over five they brought, they received an extra 200 starting chips. Students could earn a maximum of 3,000 starting chips if they brought 10 cans for the food bank.
The tournament attracted 60 players and half the field left Memorial Hall with at least a $20 gift certificate to Best Buy. Most of the players who didn't crack the top 30 didn't go home empty-handed. Throughout the day, Labac raffled off gear donated by Card Player College magazine.
Labac was actually disappointed with the turnout, but Justin Ginter, the president of RHA, was pleased with how it went.
"We're all about programming where people could have a good time," Ginter said. "I think it was a pretty darn good turnout. We collected a large amount of food and every little bit helps, every little bit counts."
Christopher Winn honored his surname by taking home the 2-gigabit iPod.
"I got plenty of songs to put on there," Winn said.
He pulled off a miracle by coming back from a 10-to-1 chip disadvantage at the final table to win the whole thing. Luck was on his side. He had to double up several times to even have a chance and did just that.
The critical moment came when he pulled a third four on the river to stay alive. It also put him at just about even with the chip leader, who had dominated and built a monster chip stack by knocking out all but three people from the final table.
But he didn't knock out the guy who counted.
Labac and the University of Missouri collected close to a ton of canned goods for the food bank over the last three years. Since Labac is only a junior, they'll surely go over a ton when the tournament takes place next year.
