Inaugural Beer Society memorial poker tournament raises $2,500 for Last Hope Rescue

Well, it certainly wasn't an easy event to put on but the end result was pretty special.

The Inaugural Josh Vanderpool Memorial Charity Poker Tournament – named after longtime TLH Beer Society member Josh Vanderpool, who died unexpectedly Feb. 9 at the age of 35 – took place at the Red Shed BBQ Restaurant on April 8 and marked the first time we'd held a fundraising event like this.

Over the last four years, we've put on numerous charity bottle shares around town, raising over $40,000 for local nonprofits and charities in the process.

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But a poker tournament? At a barbecue restaurant? Held outdoors in the unpredictable Florida weather?

No pun intended here — but it was a bit of a gamble!

In the end, however, the event went better than we ever could've hoped or imagined as we — nay, YOU — helped us raise $2,500 for Last Hope Rescue, a local nonprofit animal rescue that Josh was passionate about.

The weather was perfect. The crowd was large, but manageable. The beer that was donated by the 850's next brewery-in-planning — Amicus Brewing Ventures — was phenomenal. And the food served up by the Red Shed was incredible. (Don't sleep on their Friday-and-Saturday only pizza, fam! It was on full display during the event and tasted amazing!)

Josh's father Jeff and brother JT drove over from Jacksonville to take part in the event with both men saying a few words about Josh before Jeff announced the customary "Shuffle up and deal!" to the tournament field of 24 players.

After 4 hours of big raises, bigger bluffs and all-in showdowns, the tournament victor was Tallahassee resident G. Ben Hensarling, who bested another Tallahassee resident Burke Buchanan — our "swag guy" who produces all that great Drink Tallahassee Beer swag you see around town - heads up for the title when his pocket jacks survived against Burke's Q-10 in an all-in race.

After it was over, we celebrated with a toast to Josh and a few photos of Ben in front of all the chips before putting a bow on the tribute event to our friend.

Josh was a great friend and one of the nicest, most caring and good-hearted guys you'd ever meet. You often hear people describe someone who has a heart of gold by saying, "He'd give you the shirt off his back" — and that was Josh to a T. He was a brother, a son, a dog dad, a hard-worker and one heck of a soccer and poker player.

When we started organizing this event in January — when Josh was still alive — he was eager to come and take part. But when he passed not long after in early February, we knew the only way forward with this was to not only still do it, but make him the namesake.

Amicus jumped at the chance to be involved when we asked, and they donated not one, not two, but THREE kegs of beer they brewed just for this event. They even gave them all poker-themed names — Full House IPA, No Check Lager and Kicker Coffee Stout.

Amicus' inclusion — and their offer to debut their beer for the first time to Tallahassee at OUR event — was huge. They kept a tip bucket on their table all night for anyone who wanted to drop them a few bucks in exchange for the free beer, and then they donated all of the money to Last Hope at the end of the event.

We also have to give a shoutout to all the local businesses that donated raffle prizes to the event — it made a HUGE difference in the bottom line. In addition to the tournament entry fees going to Last Hope Rescue, the raffle helped us raise nearly $1,000 more on top. And a tip of the hat to local mobile casino company Vegas Casino Nights — which donated time, equipment and dealers to make the tournament run smoothly, as well as Tallahassee-based renovation company Dorsch Developments, which heard about the event and made a cash sponsorship to help with operating costs with the remainder going to Last Hope.

Thanks to everyone who came out and either played in the tournament, bought raffle tickets or donated to Last Hope. We plan to make this an annual event going forward in Josh's honor and benefit Last Hope each and every time.

Until we meet again someday, rest easy, JV. We love you and we miss you, man.

Speaking of fundraisers

The TLH Beer Society took part in the 5th Annual SGI Brewfest (SGIBrewfest.com) last weekend in St. George Island — marking the first time the festival has been held in three years due to the pandemic.

And we are happy to report, per a Facebook post by the SGI Brewfest Committee on Wednesday, that $50,000 was raised for the Franklin County Humane Society!

That figure is huge in many ways, namely because organizers estimated FCHS lost between $60,000 and $80,000 in revenue needed for their mission with the event on a hiatus since 2019.

Nearly 40 breweries lined St. George Island Lighthouse Park, and for the first time the event handed out trophies for the winner of "Best Brewery" and "Best Overall Beer." We handled the voting process, which patrons could do online or by filling out a voting card, and the victors of the inaugural trophies were Oyster City Brewing Company (Best Brewery) and Southern Fields Brewing Company (Best Overall Beer). SFB's beer that won was a 10.2% ABV Russian Imperial Stout named "Zaslavaky's Black Gold."

There were 800 tickets sold and we tabulated nearly 200 total votes — so thanks to everyone who cast a vote! And a second thanks to all our local breweries and businesses that donated swag to our table, which we handed out if you were able to step up and sink a shot on our TLHBS cornhole boards.

If you missed the shot, you still walked away a winner as we gave out almost 200 TLH Beer Society "sand caddies" — a plastic drink holder that sticks in the sand at the beach and steadies your oceanside beverage of choice. Those are now on our website, along with our TLH Beer Society Membership Card, for anyone who is interested in grabbing one.

New Drink Tallahassee Beer T-shirt coming

Just in time for Memorial Day and July 4th weekend, we're debuting another one-off "Drink Tallahassee Beer" T-shirt on our website this week. The shirt will be solid camo with white "Drink Tallahassee Beer" lettering on the front, and a small American flag in the top right-hand corner above the heart.

Pre-orders start now at tlhbeers.com, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to local veterans organization, AMVets Post 1776 - Tallahassee.

Danny Aller is the co-founder, along with Matthew Crumbaker, of the TLH Beer Society. Reach the Beer Society on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or email: tlhbeersociety@gmail.com.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: TLH Beer Society's poker tournament raises $2,500 for nonprofit animal rescue