Startup Poker 2.0

This was a double-header month for Poker 2.0.  In addition to the regular monthly event, we also hosted a special event exclusively for the Windows Azure/TechStars Accelerator program.   Both happened in the Easy and both were a blast.

Our sponsors for the regular event were Windows Azure and Turnstone furniture.  Miranda Luna from Windows Azure and Jimmy Kwan from Turnstone are great supporters of the startup community so tell them thanks when you see them.

Legendary poker pro and Jawfish Games CEO, Phil Gordon, joined us at the regular event and (big surprise) ended up in the money and with the 2nd place trophy.  Here’s how the chips fell at the final table:

1st Place: Stephen Huson, Director, A Place for Mom

2nd Place: Phil Gordon, CEO, Jawfish Games

3rd Place: Kevin Leneway, CTO, Haiku Deck

4th Place: Geoff Simons, CTO, iHearNetwork

5th Place: Eric Anderson, CEO, Online Net-Entertainment

I love the special events we do with the Microsoft Accelerator program.   While there are always some solid players among the teams, these events are always a bit more intimate and casual.  This time was no exception.  It was terrific to meet the teams and, as lady luck would have it, take them to the cleaners.    A special shout out to Dan Todd, CEO of Affinity.IS, who put up a $100 bounty on his own head!  He ended up winning that back by placing 3rd and taking home his first trophy ever — nice work Dan!

Here’s how the money went:

1st Place: Bob Crimmins, CEO, MoonTango

2nd Place: Alex Kilpatrick, CTO, Beehive Biometrics

3rd Place: Dan Todd, CEO, Affinity.IS

4th Place: Dan, Boxella

Our host this month was The Makers Space, the beautiful co-working space in Belltown. Hands down the winner for coolest interior of all the co-working spaces.

Since everyone has to come to me to get their rebuys, I get to hear all the stories of suck outs and bad beats.  It was definitely a big night for both… and that means a bigger pot at the end of the night!

Congrats to all the money winners and thanks to everyone who came… it was a great night.

1st Place: Paul Cutsinger, Amazon

2nd: Eric Anderson, CEO, Online Net-Entertainment

3rd: Paul Simons, CEO, iHearNetwork

4th: Brandon Masterson, CEO, 2MorrowInc

5th: Ken Stanfield, CEO, Preebo

6th: Geoff Simons, CTO, iHearNetwork

The March Poker 2.0 in Portland was great, with Portland State Business Accelerator and OnTheGo Platforms hosting. Poker is proving to be a great equalizer; evidence can be seen in the final table with all newcomers and most self-identifying as beginner poker players.

We also learned a lesson about the appetites of the poker-playing PDX startup community and so we’ll plan to have plenty of food and drink on hand for future events. 

We hope to see more new faces at our April Event at ISITE Design — so all you Portland founders, execs and investors be sure to signup to be added to the invite list… then look for the invites!

Congrats to the lucky (skillful?) winners!

1st – James Tatham, VP, GreenPrint

2nd – Patrick Ezell, CEO, Copious

3rd – Jefferson Smith, Founder, The Bus Project

4th – Salih Waritu, CMO, SeeNuu

2013 is going to be a big year for Startup Haven and Startup Poker 2.0.  Startup Poker 2.0 events have been running in Seattle for nearly six years.  You can check out the definitive infographic to see what that’s meant for Seattle entrepreneurs.  I’m humbled to share with you that in 2013 Startup Haven is expanding.  The first stop on the World Domination Tour is setting up Poker 2.0 events in Portland.  Long-time Poker 2.0 addict, Tyler Phillipi, is leading the organizational efforts there.  If your in Portland and want to participate, read this post to see if you’re qualified to play and then apply here.

I’ll have some other exciting announcements to make as we progress through 2013.

Last night was special.  Poker 2.o teamed up with TechStars, Red Russak and StartupSeattle.com to help celebrate this year’s TechStars teams with a blowout Demo Day After Party.

As a TechStars mentor myself, it’s was honor to help celebrate the success of the TechStars teams.  It was also gratifying to see so many past TechStars alum having a blast.  Thanks to Andy Sack for the opportunity to host the party.

With 750+ in attendance, it was BIG party.  It was also one of the biggest Poker 2.0 tournaments ever… 67 players, a very juicy pot and professional Poker legend Phil Gordon at the tables.  And it didn’t stop there…

For this event we expanded the format of our regular monthly Poker 2.0 games and made it a full-on casino night party, complete with blackjack, craps and roulette — 27 professional casino dealers in all!

The casino games were all “play money” but the chips you won were redeemable for raffle tickets.  And with over $5,000 in raffle prizes up for grabs there was real value in those little red raffle tickets.

Even though Phil Gordon retired from pro poker to return to his roots as an entrepreneur and technologist, he always brings a level skill, excitement and good humor to every Poker 2.0 he sits down at.  And this time he stood up too!

After finishing tied for 3rd Geoff Simons of iHearNetwork, Phil grabbed the mic and called the play-by-play in true WSOP style.  As long-time Poker 2.0 supporter Erik Jansen and Ken Stanfield of iPredikt.com battled it out for 1st and 2nd place, respectively, while Phil called all the action.

Rounding out the money winners, we had Chris Kalafatis from JP Morgan Chase in 5th place and Richard Averitt of JawFish Games in 6th.  Wouldn’t you know that we’d have two JawFish Games players in the money.

There were a lot of awesome highlight moments throughout the night, but nothing beat the opening hand at table number 5.   Eight all-ins… five cards on the board… one winner… seven rebuys… and a very big stack sitting in front of Phil when it was over.  And that was just the first hand of the night!  If you were in the tournament and lucky enough NOT to be sitting at Phil’s table, feel free to add a comment to this post and tell us your favorite highlight hand or bad beat.

Pulling off an event of this size and complexity takes a lot of help.  Massive thanks to my partner in crime, Red Russak.  Red’s incredible talent for making connections in the startup community was critical to the success of the event.  And Red and I couldn’t have done it without the help of the many sponsors who generously stepped up to celebrate TechStars and to support the Seattle startup community.  Please thank them when you see them.

Gold Sponsors

Mandrill / MailChimp - Mandrill is a transactional email platform from MailChimp. If you’re a fan of MailChimp’s e-mail service, you’re going to love this!

Microsoft Outlook - Outlook.com is free modern email service from Microsoft. Get a clean clutter free inbox, easily connect with Office Web Apps and SkyDrive.

Barokas PR - The NorthWest’s leading mid-size public relations agency. Big Ideas. And a bit of Attitude. Celebrating 14 Years of PR Minus the BS!

Silver Sponsors

Microsoft SkyDrive - Enjoy 7 GB’s of Free Storage today via SkyDrive, the perfect place to store and access your files. Also, they’ve create a library of knowledge, info and resources for startups.

Cooley LLP - Cooley represents hundreds of clients in a wide range of industries from offices in eleven major commercial markets.

SideCar - SideCar is transforming the way people move and they just moved to Seattle, so get your ride-share on today.

Bronze Sponsors

Bader Martin

K&L Gates

Turnstone

Splunk

Startup Weekend

Killer Infographics

Aeon Law

Path.To

JP Morgan Chase

Additional Sponsors

WowRack

UserVoice

Fresh Consulting

Washington Partners

Twilio

Job Board Sponsors

Glympse

JawFish Games

WhitePages

EnergySavvy

CareZone

EveryMove

Zillow

Rooster Park

Media Sponsors

GeekWire

Dealmaker Media

Project Bionic

GeekPeek TV

Gear Live

Brand Buddee

Community Partners

TheHUB

Surf Incubator

UW Foster School

HN Meetup

Washington Technology

NW Entrepreneur Network

Tech Café

Huge thanks to Nick Grant and his team at KillerInfographics for graphically capturing the awesome highlights of Startup Poker 2.0. I’ll let the picture speak for itself.

Startup Poker 2.0 Infographic by KillerInfographics

Last month, StartupCity and Startup Weekend hosted a startup summit, bring together the folks who strive to support the startup ecosystem in Seattle.  The organizer, Red Russak, ask me to put together some stats on what Startup Poker 2.0 has accomplished and what it needs help with going forward.  Here’s the highlights:

• 400+ invitees, almost all are startup founders, execs or investors.
• 50+ monthly events.
• 2,300+ poker seats fill by founders, execs and investors.
• 66,300 opportunities to meet a peer, get some help, find a resource.
• $45K+ cash and prizes — how’s the for redistribution of wealth?
• 100% of every buyin went back to the players.
• $0 spent for event admission — Poker 2.0 is always free.

What did attendees get out of Startup Poker 2.0?

• Players got funded.  No, really.
• Players got fed… and pretty well I’d have to say.
• Players got introductions.
• Players found co-founders.
• Players found business partners.
• Players found new hires.
• Players found the right office space.
• Players found the right attorney.
• Players found help with business challenges.
• Players built friendships.

You all, the players and sponsors, have made Startup Poker 2.0 into what it has become and I’m humbled by what it has accomplished.   And Startup Poker 2.0 is done yet.  I’ll have some fun announcements to make in the coming months so stay tuned.