Charities Dealt Winning Hand at Stone Poker Tourney

When almost 100 players gathered online for the first ever “All in for Natural Stone Poker Tournament” back in November, the winning continued after the final hand.

Not only did everyone at the final table go home with a gift card, but sponsors and participants contributed to two organizations close to the hearts of those in the industry: The Natural Stone Foundation (NSF) and the Gary Sinise Foundation.

Jonathan Zanger, a former Marble Institute of America president, current NSF board member, and enthusiastic poker player, led the effort for the initial event. He’s pleased with the results, especially since organizers didn’t really begin to work on the tournament until late last summer.

“We learned a lot, especially since this was our first year,” says Zanger. “We expect to double or triple our participation next year.”

Zanger was especially complimentary of the event’s sponsors, both the Gold Level sponsors and those who provided the gift cards the participants in the final table – plus the so-called bubble boy – went home with based on their success.

Gold Level sponsors, who together donated approximately $20,000, were DalTile, DBI, Jantile, Marble Unlimited, Tamak, and Triton Stone.

All of the proceeds went 75% to the Natural Stone Foundation and 25 percent to the Gary Sinise Foundation,” says Zanger. “We raised about $40,000.”

He describes the prizes won by the players as extremely generous.

Winners, their prizes and the prize donors are:

 *Beth Sterner, $2,500 gift card from Malisani, Inc.

 *Jeremy Beezley, $1,700 gift card from Petrillo Stone Group

 * Aaron Steele, $1,500 gift card from Delaware Quarries, Inc.

 *Rolph Fraser, $1,200 gift card from ABC Stone, Inc.

 *May [no last name given], $1,250 gift card from Arizona Tile Inc.

 *Jeff Horn, $1,000 gift card from Merola Tile, Inc.

 *Katie Jensen, $750 gift card from Lazy E Retreat

 *Michael Van Etten, $750 gift card from Artistic Tile

 *Stan Wu, $500 gift card from A. Lacroix Granit

 *Scotty Wood (bubble boy), $250 gift card from AAA Stone

Beezley, Horn and Jensen are all with Triton Stone, while Steele played for Brekhau Tile and Stone, Van Etten is with Murphy Marble, and Wood is from DalTile.

Sponsors were also honored at the NSI booth at The International Stone Expo (TISE) in January in Las Vegas.

While the winner was a New York poker player, Zanger felt members of the industry did well. He especially singled out Katie Jensen, the immediate past president of the Natural Stone Institute.

“This was her first poker tournament,” he says. “We had a wide variety of people who played, and they had a great time.”

Participants came from all over the country, although New York, New Jersey, and California generated the most players.

“We had fabricators, distributors, contractors, and retailers,” Zanger says. “It was a really broad cross-section, and it was mostly people who had played before, but not professionals.”

Helping generate participation were an inexpensive buy-in and packages for companies that encouraged their employees, friends and clients to have their own rooms and their own parties.

He adds that a lot of people were playing in their first tournament, but whether novices or experienced players, they were generally pleased with the platform. Even as players were eliminated, many stayed around to watch until the final hand was played.

The event was so successful that Zanger is planning on a second annual event, tentatively set for Nov. 6.

“We learned a lot, especially since this was our first year,” he says. “We expect to double or triple our participation, and we certainly want to get more sponsors.

“We’re looking forward to building on this first event and see participation grown in the years to come,” Zanger concludes.