POKER VENUE PICKED...SIGN UP TODAY

The Par and Poker Celebrity Challenge for Charity 2009 has chosen its poker venue - Tampa Bay Downs' The Silks Poker Room.

Tampa Bay Downs is the only Thoroughbred race track on the West Coast of Florida, and is known as one of America's oldest and most well-maintained racetracks. The Silks Poker Room (which will hold our professional celebrity poker tournament) offers all of your favorite game including Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo, Texas Hold’em, “Action” Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo, “Action” Omaha Hi-Lo, Omaha Hi Only, and Crazy Pineapple. Several multi-table tournaments are held daily, as well as single table tournaments all day long.

The Silks Poker Room elegant air-conditioned room is completely non-smoking and includes 30 poker tables. There are over 50 plasma TV's and roaming tellers, so fans can watch, wager and win on all the horseracing, simulcast action, and sporting events right from the comfort of the poker tables. Tableside beverage service is also offered, so no one has to miss a hand. The Silks Poker Room is currently the only Poker Room in the Bay Area offering table-side massage.

Here is the info for the tournament:

THURSDAY, JANUARY 29TH, 2009 @ 7PM

NO-LIMIT TEXAS HOLD’EM
POKER TOURNAMENT

THE SILKS POKER ROOM
AT TAMPA BAY DOWNS
11225 Race Track Road, Tampa, FL 33626

www.tampabaydowns.com / (813)855-4401 ext 1498

$500 BUY-IN / $100 UNLIMITED RE-BUYS
$200 ADD-ONS / $250 CELEBRITY BOUNTIES

Seth Joyner (Celebrity Host) / Julius “Dr. J” Erving / Lawrence Taylor / Clyde Drexler / Alfonso Ribiero / Roy Green / Ed Moses / Brett Saberhagen / Chili Davis / Joe Carter / Grant Show / Paul Azinger / Marcus Allen / Eric Dickerson
… and more

WPT Celebrity Invitational Seat

(This is a ONLY YOU CAN BE INVITED seat from the WPT)
WSOP SEATS
* OVER $150,000 + PRIZE POOL

**BENEFITTING:
LOCAL TAMPA NON-PROFITS
AND THE
JOYNER-WALKER FOUNDATION

For More Information
leonard@parandpoker.com
Or Register by Calling 480.736.2464

*estimate based on 300 entries
**50% goes to charities

...we're working on a Par and Poker Bracelet as well!

The Return of the Great!

Baseball Legend Ozzie Smith is returning to play in the Par and Poker Celebrity Challenge for Charity held during Super Bowl week on January 29, 2009 in Tampa, Florida. The second annual tournament hosted by Former NFL Super Bowl Champion Seth Joyner and NCAA Champion Andy Walker, consists of two parts: an 18-hole golf tournament and a No Limit Texas Hold’em poker tournament.

Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith was one of over thirty class A celebrities who participated in the inaugural event during Super Bowl week 2008 in Arizona.

Best known as “The Wizard of Oz,” Ozzie Smith combined athletic ability with acrobatic skill to become one of baseball’s great defensive shortstops. In nineteen seasons with the Padres and Cardinals, the 13-time Gold Glove Award winner and 15-time All Star set major league shortstop records for assists, double plays and total chances.

“To be part of this is very special,” said Ozzie Smith. “Hopefully we can come back nine or ten years from now and talk about how successful its been, how much money has been raised and how much good has come out of this."

Ozzie is a great friend to us, the organization and the event. Not only is he a Hall of Famer in baseball, but he is wonderful human being and someone that truly cares for people.

We want to Thank Ozzie Smith for his commitment and welcome him for another great event!

Course Chosen for Par & Poker Event / Super Bowl XLIII

FINALLY, we have chosen a Tampa Bay golf course that meets the quality and value that is expected by participants, sponsors, celebrities and spectators. Our executive director and Canadian PGA professional Andy Walker has made it mandatory that we only select the best courses in or near the host cities of the Super Bowl. Our creed is to maintain the utmost quality and standards when it comes to golf and poker - and so far, we have met those objectives.

Last year, the event was at Fort McDowell / Scottsdale's WeKoPa Golf Club. This course is ranked in the top 25 public access course in the entire world! The FBR Open was held at the same time as our event, yet you can truly say that our course (just up the street) was in better condition and much more manicured for an outstanding experience. With over 100 volunteers from caddies, fore caddies, spotters, green side scorer, etc to sponsor care and crowd control, the Par & Poker Celebrity Challenge for Charity is setup like a PGA Tour Event. Festival tents, vendors, beer gardens, and more provided a great experience for spectators and players.

The TPC Tampa Bay features a stadium like arena on each hole. This lends to a perfect setting to witness great golf from tee to green. Additionally, the TPC Tampa Bay has areas on the course and especially around greens to setup vendors, restaurants, beer gardens and bleachers to enjoy competition from practically a bird’s eye view. The golf course meanders through woods and wetlands providing habitats for abundant forms of waterfowl and indigenous wildlife. The rolling terrain, mature forests and natural marshlands all contribute to the splendor and serenity of an experience that makes TPC Tampa Bay special.

A championship course and a spectator paradise that is FREE to the public for the Par & Poker Celebrity Challenge for Charity event on January 29, 2009…see you there!

Par & Poker event II bound for Tampa Bay

Welcome to the Par & Poker Celebrity Challenge for Charity blog brought to you by LAS Ventures Marketing and the Joyner-Walker foundation.

Last year was our first celebrity golf and poker tournament, held in Glendale, Arizona for the 2008 Super Bowl. Lots of hours was put into this event, as we wanted to make sure that the Par & Poker Celebrity Challenge for Charity would be a quality outing for spectators, sponsors and athletes - and it was! This event raised over $60,000 for local charities AND helped launched the first program set by the Joyner-Walker foundation - financial literacy.

This year this event will be held on January 29, 2009 in Tampa Bay, Florida at the prestigious TPC Tampa. A championship / stadium course that hosts professional golf events and lends to an arena type setting for spectators. Like last year, this event will be FREE to the public and we hope that everyone will come down and enjoy Hall of Fame greats like Ozzie Smith, Marcus Allen and Lawrence Taylor (to name a few). Also, this event allows Super Bowl goers, net workers, or just those of us that enjoy watching a grand event for charity to be involved as a golf or poker player, a volunteer or a sponsor.