sports

Poker Champ Has
‘A Moment Of Clarity’

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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34

March 16 • 2017

jn

aron Fogarasi said he bets it
never happens again.
The verb was appropri-
ate. Fogarasi doesn’t think he’ll ever
repeat as champion of the annual
Shushan Hold ‘Em Poker Tournament
presented by the B’nai B’rith Great
Lakes Region and Temple Israel
Brotherhood.
“I’m not a great poker player,”
Fogarasi said in the wake of his victory
March 5 at Temple Israel.
For one night, Fogarasi was great
at poker. He defeated 49 other players
in a grueling five-hour competition at
the West Bloomfield synagogue.
“I felt like I was in a zone during the
tournament,” Fogarasi said. “Other
players believed me and folded when
it looked like I had a good hand. And
it seemed like I always folded at the
right time. I guess I had a moment of
clarity. As a baseball player would say,
it seemed like the ball was huge when
I was at the plate.”
Each poker player began the tour-
nament with $7,500 in chips. When
all was done, Fogarasi had about
$138,000 in chips. Runner-up Mitch
Dickner had about $122,000 in chips.
“I think I led for the tournament
the last two hours,” Fogarasi said.
“Luckily, I had a huge hand about five
minutes before the end.”
The 46-year-old West Bloomfield
resident said it wasn’t difficult for him
to stay focused for the five hours of
play (with a few breaks).
“That’s because the camaraderie
among the players was outstanding,”
he said. “Nobody took the competi-
tion too seriously. We were there to
raise money for two great Jewish orga-
nizations.”
Tournament profits are split
evenly between the B’nai B’rith Great
Lakes Region and Temple Israel
Brotherhood.
This was the second year the two
organizations joined forces to hold
the tournament, which began in 2005
as a fundraiser for B’nai B’rith sports
programs but was not held in 2015
because of changes in state charity
poker regulations.
“It made sense for B’nai B’rith and
the Temple Israel Brotherhood to put
on the tournament together because
there’s a lot of overlap in the organiza-
tions,” said tournament spokesman
Rick Sherline.

They made it to the final table. From left are
Mitch Dickner, Jeff Sandler, Aaron Fogarasi,
David Schwartz, Bruce Sable and Bob Shubow.

“We were happy we got 50 players
this year,” Sherline said. “With 50 play-
ers, we can make some money. The
uptick in the number of players this
year was a good sign.”
Sherline said Purim was selected as
the time for the revived tournament
because gambling is part of the Purim
celebration. Also, the holiday provides
fodder for an interesting tournament
name. It’s called the Shushan Hold
‘Em Poker Tournament instead of the
more accurate Texas Hold ‘Em Poker
Tournament, and the registration fees
are listed as shekels instead of dollars.
The advance registration fee this
year was 194 shekels, or $50.
The first tournament was held
June 26, 2005, at the West Bloomfield
Family Aquatic Center. Next came a
historic night Sept. 25, 2005, at the
Peking House restaurant in down-
town Royal Oak.
“That was our biggest turnout. We
had 77 players at the Peking House,”
he said. “We learned a lot that night.”
The tournament moved to the
Jewish Community Center in West
Bloomfield after the Peking House
competition and stayed there until
Temple Israel became the site in 2016.
ESPN began televising the World
Series of Poker in 2003, which led to
an explosion of interest in the sport.
The poker boom has waned in recent
years, which made the 50-player turn-
out at Temple Israel particularly pleas-
ing for tournament organizers.
“Our turnouts have been in the 50s
to the 70s through the years,” Sherline
said. •

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com.

