Howell High athletics betting on success of poker fundraiser

Dan Hutcheson doesn't consider himself a gambling man, but he's betting that the newest Howell High School Athletic Department fundraiser will earn his organization some new sports equipment and field upgrades. The fun begins Sunday, Aug. 17, and will run over a series of nights.

"I don't want to tell people to go out and gamble, but if you're going to go out (anyway) and have a good time ..., well, if we can benefit from that, it's great,'' said Hutcheson, speaking about the first Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament to benefit the school sports program. The athletic department will net about 10 percent of the pot brought into The Shark Club in Howell Aug. 17-20 and Aug. 24-27.

"This can generate some nice revenue for the athletic department,'' said Mike Markos, owner of Markos Management, a firm that facilitates these types of fundraisers for The Shark Club in Howell and Waterford. "I've seen charities earn as much as $1,500 a night.''

Hutcheson, Howell High's athletic director, has a three- to four-page working document detailing everything he'd like to do for his athletes. In addition to new equipment, he'd like improvements to outside fields and the track, work that falls outside the scope of upgrades approved by voters in 2003. "You can always make things look better,'' he said.

With ongoing improvements made the building's interior "to bring it up to par with Parker (High School),'' he'd like to upgrade exterior areas, but there's no money to make it happen. He'd heard about the success of Texas Hold 'Em tournaments, and "thought this could be a good thing for us,'' Hutcheson said.

Little work is involved with a card-game fundraiser, as opposed to the charity golf outings Hutcheson has organized in the past. "You only need three people to work that night, one to sell the chips, one to collect the chips and one to rake the chips,'' or figure out the charity's take, he said.

Up to 40 players can play at 10 tables for a $25 buy-in. Novices are welcome and will be able to play at an eleventh hand-by-hand game table where game instruction and demonstrations are optional.

"We'll sit down and educate them first so they can get a feel for it,'' said Markos.

Hutcheson has not set a dollar goal going into the fundraiser, instead appreciating "whatever money we can bring in.''

The Howell athletic department will also benefit from the sale of a wood carving, said Markos. "One of the dealers at The Shark Club is a chain saw artist. To raise a little extra money for the charities, we raffle off a wood carving.''

Laurie Humphrey can be reached at lhumphrey@livingstoncommunitynews.com or 810-844-2003.