Cost:
$100 in advance or $125 the night of the event (This includes 1 seat to the tournament and entry for you and your guest into the VIP High Roller Room). Limited seating. Reserved seating prior to March 11th party can only be confirmed by payment of entry fee via cash or credit card. Only 63 seats are available for the tournament and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis; so buy your tickets early. You may purchase tickets online at www.phoenixclub.org or by contacting Randy Smith randyesmith7@yahoo.com or Billy Hall at bhall_jr_@hotmail.com.

Timeframe:
8:30 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. Blinds will begin at 8:30p.m. sharp!!

Amenities:
• In addition to free wine and beer, admission to the High Roller Room gets each entrant & guest free access to full liquor bar.
• The first sixty-three (63) to sign up for the Room will receive one free round of golf to Cottonwoods in Tunica courtesy of the casino sponsor, Grand Casino. $85 value
• Each entrant & guest will receive a VIP High Roller Pass which will allow access into and out of the Room during the night.

Table Games:
• Nine regulation poker tables with seating for 7 players per table (63).
• Three regulation black jack tables (for guests of poker players) with seating for 7 players per table (21) will be provided. Chips at these tables are extra and can be purchased on the main floor of the casino. Black Jack winnings can be exchanged for tickets which will be entered into the raffle.

Poker Tournament – No limit Texas Hold ‘Em:
• Blinds – Blinds will be raised approximately every 15 minutes but will be less aggressive than last year’s tournament (details to follow).
• Re-Buys – Re-Buys will not be offered this year.
• Payout for top 7 places (See list of prizes below)

Dealers:
• Dealers will be provided by Harrah’s Entertainment and are certified by Mississippi Gaming Commission

Prizes:
• Grand Prize – $2,500 value – Las Vegas Trip for 2
o 3 nights and 4 days at the Rio Las Vegas
o Roundtrip airline tickets for 2 on Northwest Airlines
o Meal Comps for 3 days and nights
o Tickets to a concert or production (TBD)
• Second Place – $700 value – Golf and Spa
o Four rounds of golf at Cottonwoods
o $200 in Spa Credit at Belissimo
o $100 in meal comps
o One night’s stay at Grand Hotel
• Third Place – $500 value – Concert Package
o Two tickets to see a concert TBD (Kansas: 2005)
o $100 in meal comps
o One night’s stay at Grand Hotel
• Fourth Place – $400 value – Spa Package
o $200 in Spa Credit at Belissimo
o $100 in meal comps
o One night’s stay at Grand Hotel
• Fifth Place – $400 value – Spa Package
o $200 in Spa Credit at Belissimo
o $100 in meal comps
o One night’s stay at Grand Hotel
• Sixth Place – $300 value – Willows Package
o Willow’s Shooting Credit
o $100 in meal comps
o One night’s stay at Grand Hotel
• Seventh Place – Floor Seats to a Grizzlies game
• ***Other prizes may be awarded as sponsorships arise

Over the past few years, young professionals looking for ways to give back to the Memphis community have had more opportunities than ever.

While the economic revitalization of Downtown and the rising wealth of suburbia has given rise to a number of relatively new social organizations and non-profits, one organization has quietly been recruiting and involving young professionals in community service for decades.

That organization is the Phoenix Club, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit that traces its roots in Memphis back to the 1950s. The organization has endured with one simple mission; serving disadvantaged youth in Shelby County.

In April 1962, The Phoenix Club opened the first Memphis Boys Club, and is now the primary financial supporter of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis, which operates five facilities.

Last year, the club donated more than $164,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs, and annually gives between $145,000-$175,000. Club officials estimate the group has raised about $4 million for the clubs, which support youth ages 7-17.

“We wouldn’t be here without them,” says Brad Baumgardner, CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis. “The Phoenix Club has been instrumental in making sure that we have the dollars to operate, including training and educating Memphians about what the Boys and Girls Club is doing in the community.

“They are impacting lives of kids who really need it the most.”

The organization exists today much as it did when its founder, Memphis attorney John Thomason, created it, albeit considerably larger. Club membership is at its highest level ever at about 120. It caters to male professionals under the age of 35 from the legal and financial services industries. Sorry ladies, but this is a male-only organization.

“A lot of our recruitment is word of mouth,” says Phoenix Club president Todd Photopulos, an attorney at the Bulter Snow law firm. “We try to reach out to potential members when they are just getting out of school and looking to get established in the professional world.”

Annual fundraisers, often cleverly disguised as free-wheeling social events, give the new members opportunities to lead within the organization. Among the most popular events are the annual Mardi Gras and Casino Night parties, and an annual 5K run on Mud Island.

This year’s Harbortown 5K netted about $47,000. Last year, Casino Night raised about $27,000, which was good enough to snag a sponsorship from Grand Casino, Photopulos says.

Three generations of Phoenix Club leaders got together for lunch this week, swapping stories of good deeds, good times and a good idea that’s endured.

To listen was to learn why the Memphis-based nonprofit and young men’s civic and social club has survived to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a black-tie party tonight at Memphis Country Club.

“It’s a social organization with a great cause,” said Dabney Collier, 36, a past president. “The more fun everybody seems to have, the better the fund-raising goes.”

Fund-raising — to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis — and fun seems forever in fashion for this mix of 35-(or so)-and under businessmen, bankers, attorneys and more. The club has raised nearly $4 million in its history, including about $175,000 for the fiscal year ending this month.

Fund-raising event include the Harbortown 5K, a Christmas greeting card campaign, Mardi Gras party, and a new martini mixer and celebrity auction — and there’s one beneficiary.

“There aren’t many Boys & Girls Clubs, I’m aware of across the country that have the same kind of support we get from such a group,” said Brad Baumgardner, president and CEO of the local clubs. “The Phoenix Club is the heart and soul of the Boys & Girls Clubs. They’ve provided funding and leadership and board members, and even in some instances they provide some program initiatives, also.”

A past president, Bruce Hopkins, 54 said the Phoenix Club was “the springboard for my community service,” and the reason he juggles various board memberships today. He and Collier were joined at their lunch this week by new president Todd Photopulos, 34, and first president John Thomason, 75.

“It seems to me the openness of the Phoenix Club reflects the openness of Memphis.” Thomason said. “It seems to me Memphis is a place where you can come in from out of town, and if you’re smart and if you work hard you can be successful. You don’t have to be a member of a clique. You don’t have to have been born here.”

The club officially began in 1956 as a local chapter of a California-based young men’s civic group, the 20-30 Club. The early focus was on working with delinquent youths, but that plan lacked traction. By 1958 it was reborn — hence “Phoenix,” rising from its ashes — as an independent organization. The focus shifted to raising funds to establish the city’s first Boys Club, which opened in 1962. And so the focus remains on aiding that organization, which now has five clubs and served 7,000 boys and girls last year.

“Hey, without them we wouldn’t be here,” Baumgardner said.

The Phoenix Club has about 110 members and no paid staff, and prides itself on being able to operate like a business when there’s an event to pull off — say, the June 3 Harbortown 5K, which is expected to raise, $40,000.