“Shuffle up and deal!” announced Cory Doctorow and the sound of playing cards and poker chips filled the room.
The sci-fi author and EFF special advisor was this year’s Celebrity Emcee for the 3rd annual EFF Benefit Poker Tournament, an official contest at the DEF CON computer hacking conference hosted by Red Queen Dynamics CEO and EFF board member Tarah Wheeler. Celebrity Knockout Guests were Runa Sandvik, MalwareJake Williams, and Deviant Ollam.
Forty-six EFF supporters and friends played in the charity tournament on Friday, August 9 in the Horseshoe Poker Room at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip.
Every entrant received a special deck of cybersecurity playing cards. The original concept was suggested by information security attorney Kendra Albert, designed by Melanie “1dark1” Warner of Hotiron Collective, and made by Tarah Wheeler.
The day started with a poker clinic run by Tarah’s father, professional poker player Mike Wheeler. Mike shared how he taught Tarah to play poker with jelly beans and then shared with all listeners on when to check, when to raise, and how that flush draw might not be as solid as you think.
At noon, Cory Doctorow kicked off the tournament and the fun began. This year’s tournament featured a number of celebrity guests, each with a price on their head. Whichever player knocked one of them out of the tournament, would win a special prize.
JD Sterling knocked out poker pro Mike Wheeler, collecting the bounty on his head posted by Tarah, and winning a $250 donation to EFF in his name. Mike swears he was ahead until the river.
Malware Jake was the next celebrity to fall, with fish knocking him out just before the break to win a scrolling message LED hat.
Runa Sandvik was knocked out by Jacen Kohler winning an assortment of Norwegian milk chocolate.
And Tarah Wheeler showed the skills and generosity that led her to start this charity tournament back in 2022. She knocked out Deviant, winning the literal shirt off his back, a one-of-a-kind Sci-Hub t-shirt that she later auctioned off for EFF. She also knocked out Cory Doctorow, winning a collection of his signed books that she also gave away. She bubbled and finished 9th in the tournament, just missing the final table of 8.
After Tarah fell, the final table assembled for one more hour of poker. The final five players were J.D. Sterling, Eric Hammersmark, n0v, Sid, and Ed Bailey, as the big stack.
J.D. was the first to fall when his K8 lost to Ed Bailey’s QT when a Queen flopped early.
Eric busted out next, leaving the final three. They traded blinds back and forth for a while until Ed, with the big stack, started pushing, joking that he had a plane to catch.
One of his raises was eventually called by Sid. Ed flopped top pair and tried to keep Sid on the line, but Sid wriggled out, landing a King on the river to beat Ed’s pair, double up, and eat into Ed’s chip lead.
Ed kept pushing, but ran into n0v’s pocket queens, taking another third of his chips, and then eventually busting out to pocket aces from Sid. Ed was satisfied with coming in third, and after shaking hands quickly took off. It turns out he actually did have a plane to catch.
The final two, n0v and Sid traded blinds until n0V went all-in pre-flop with A5. Sid called and showed pocket 9s. The crowd cheered as the board showed no aces, giving Sid the hand and the tournament.
Cory presented Sid with the tournament’s traditional jellybean trophy and a treasure chest of precious stones from Tarah’s personal collection.
It was an exciting afternoon of competition raising over $16,000 to support civil liberties and human rights online. We hope you join us next year as we continue to grow the tournament. Follow Tarah and EFF to make sure we have chips and a chair for you at DEF CON 33.
