“I am extremely grateful that they come back year after year to play,” she said.
Members of the nonprofit’s board of directors also get in on the action at the annual game, she said.
“I played the last two times, and I made it to the final tables, so I am more than happy to be here,” said board member Emma Kurdian.
She placed third in last year’s tournament and said she plans to place high again.
The person who wins it all is rewarded with a grand prize of a two-night, three-day stay in Las Vegas including hotel, dinner and airfare.
Various goody baskets were also on hand for players who made it to the final table in the game, which lasts several rounds and usually late into the evening, around 10:30 p.m.
The game ends when the final players go all in.
“Then . . . the room gets really quiet,” Warren said. “And everyone kind of stands around, hovers and watches.”
Laughter and banter could be heard in the hall at the Burbank Masonic Center, where the tournament was held and the game got underway around 6:30 p.m.
Professional dealers flicked cards around their tables as players ordered beers and kept their hands flat next to red and blue chips.
Even though the games were for a good cause and the stakes were high, the mood was light.
“Uh-oh,” said Gary Stevens, 44, of La Cañada Flintridge, as the dealer revealed the last cards of the hand.
“The king plays,” Stevens said, laughing as someone else collected.
Stevens said he had been coming to play the game for years and was a fan of poker and gambling in general.
“It’s the Boys & Girls Club tournament,” he said. “It’s a charity tournament. It’s just fun.”
