Celebrating the eight year anniversary of his eponymous radio talk show, poker professional Bernard Lee handed out 20 prizes to listeners recently, including a buy in to an event at this year’s World Series of Poker that turned into a second buy in courtesy of a charitable foundations supported by Lee.
As a part of his partnership with Blaycation, a travel company that attempts to make people’s “bucket list” become reality, Lee was able to garner one of the $777 buy ins for the Lucky Sevens tournament, Event #66 on the 2015 WSOP schedule. To help celebrate the eighth anniversary of The Bernard Lee Poker Show, one of Lee’s dearest charitable outlets, the One Step Closer Foundation, decided to honor Lee by offering a second seat to the same tournament.
“Bernard has been a loyal supporter of the One Step Closer Foundation for years,” said Jacob Zalewski, the foundation’s president and Chief Executive Officer. “Our foundation makes dreams come true for those individuals who are living with Cerebral Palsy. With our upcoming poker charity event, we felt it would be perfect to provide a WSOP buy-in for an individual to fulfill their poker dreams.”
On Friday, Lee announced the two players who would be receiving those seats. “I am extremely excited to be able to make these players’ dreams a reality,” Lee said. “Nothing can compare with the experience of playing in a WSOP bracelet event. I know this is an adventure both players will always remember.”
The two lucky individuals were Brett Mueller, a 27-year old account executive from Cincinnati, OH, and Jay Phillips, the Chief Executive Officer and President of Project Realms. Needless to say, the two players were excited about their opportunities to play in the greatest tournament arena on Earth.
“I am thrilled to be chosen for such an incredible experience and cannot wait to arrive at the World Series of Poker,” Mueller said. “I would like to personally thank Bernard Lee and all the sponsors for their joint effort in making dreams come true.” Phillips echoed those sentiments in saying, “I’m super excited to have been selected for The Bernard Lee Poker Show contest. I’m also excited to participate in the Blaycation experience, which provides an all-around WSOP experience. I’ve been to Vegas quite a few times but have never been able to attend at this level, where you get to play and a full tour of the event.”
With those buy-ins, both Mueller and Phillips will be taking their seats in the Lucky Sevens event, which will feature two Day Ones that starts on July 3. As one of the final events on the Las Vegas calendar for the WSOP (only two other events, the $10,000 Dealer’s Choice World Championship and the WSOP Championship Event, will be left on the schedule), the Lucky Sevens tournament is expected to draw numbers similar to other “featured” WSOP tournaments such as the Monster Stack and the Millionaire Maker. It is also possible that, with the low buy-in, a humongous field will make for a sizeable first place prize along with the WSOP bracelet.
Lee is expected to be a part of the One Step Closer Foundation’s charitable poker tournament, which will be contested next week. The tournament, “Raising the Stakes for CP Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament,” has raised over $600,000 in its nine years of existence to combat the difficulties that people with cerebral palsy face. The tournament will be held on June 19 at 2PM at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino and features a sterling lineup of celebrities and professional players.
Alongside Lee, such celebrities as talk show host Montel Williams, actress Cheryl Hines, Mekhi Phifer, actors/poker players James Woods and Jennifer Tilly and pro poker players Joe Cada and Dennis Phillips will be taking to the felt to raise funds for the Foundation. The $300 buy-in tournament (with $100 rebuys) will award $25,000 in cash and prizes to the final table participants. The tournament starts at 2PM but participants are encouraged to arrive early as to avoid any potential issues that might arise.