Short Stacks: Bernard Lee is a Pickleball Champ, Ante 4 Autism Tourney at South Point

3 min read

Bernard Lee heads to Pittsburgh and becomes a pickleball champion, Karina Jett hosts a tournament to help battle autism, and Eric Perssons buys another casino are some of the short stacks CardsChat picked up in its latest orbit of poker news.

Bernard Lee
Bernard Lee is the pickleball Champion of the 2023 National Senior Games, 50-54 age group. (Image: pickleballunion.com)

World Series of Poker bracelet winner, poker author and blogger Bernard Lee has another title to add to his list: Pickleball champion. Lee, 53, won his division (50-54) at the National Senior Games, which was held in Pittsburgh July 7-18.

The event attracted more than 1,500 pickleballers. Lee hurt his leg after dominating the first three games in the final, but gutted through it, according to pickleballunion.com. His daughter had her doubts he could continue, but the two-time WSOP winner would not be denied.

“I told her that she would have to cut off my leg to prevent me from playing,” Lee said. “I was basically playing on one leg after the injury. I decided to just go for my shots and try to end the points as quickly as possible.”

Check out the hustle on Lee as he seized this point:


Ante for Autism tourney on Saturday

If you’re in Las Vegas on Saturday, July 29, and want to hang out and play poker with some of the game’s greats,  head over to South Point for the Ante 4 Autism tournament. Started in 2009 by Doug Krinsky to help raise money for a non-profit he and his wife Kelly co-founded, Beat Autism Now, the tournament has raised more than $1.1 million in its 14 years.

The event starts at 6:30 p.m. Buy-ins are $200, with $100 re-buys and add-ons until 8 p.m. Karina Jett has hosted the event since it started and will be there Saturday.

People who can’t make it but would like to donate to Ante 4 Autism should visit their webpage.


Maverick Gaming buys casino and will expand poker room

High stakes poker fan-favorite and casino owner Eric Persson’s Maverick Gaming added another gaming facility to its portfolio. Maverick Gaming bought All-Star Lanes & Casino in Silverdale, Wash., for an undisclosed amount. That gives Persson’s company 31 casinos, many of which have poker rooms.

The small casino and bowling alley has a small poker room, but Perssons says it will be expanded.

“We think there’s probably an opportunity to add a dedicated poker room to the market,” Perssons told the Kitasap Sun. “We’ll probably expand the poker room and we’ll start doing more tournaments and a lot of other promotions that they just don’t have out there.”


PokerStars adds antes to sit ‘n goes

PokerStars changed the structure of it’s sit ‘n go turbos in it’s United States markets to speed them up even faster. Antes now start with the first hand.

This gives the player’s in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New Jersey a little less value for their buy-in, as the tournament runs faster.


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