It's midnight. I'm still sitting in my office downtown. And, I have a little radio program to do in a few hours.

Not a great situation.

But, I know some people would like to know how things went down here last night at F15teen...so I wanted to give some knowledge.

First off, we had more than 100 players show up. That was amazing. Even more cool is the fact that the vast majority voluntarily donated $100, and that means insideSTL.com is able to write a check for $4,000 to the Prevent Cancer Foundation this morning. I can't begin to convey how pleased we are with the turnout and the quality of people who came in and donated to the cause last night. It, honestly, really was something. We had a line up and down the staircase to the second floor, and people were cool throughout the whole tournament registration process and tournament.

Second, Dennis Phillips is the second coming of Kurt Warner. People playing at his table couldn't believe how just flat-out down-to-earth he was, and even though he got knocked out of the tournament at around 8:15, he stayed until the conclusion at 11:15. Seriously, even if you don't know if a King is higher than a Queen, you've got a reason to watch the World Series of Poker when he represents St. Louis and goes for 9 million dollars in November at the WSOP Main Event. Just first class. I can't say enough about him. He showed up at 5 p.m. to sign autographs. Paid for people to play. Auctioned off his Cardinal cap for $300. Talked to everyone. Took pictures. And, he was just an all-around great person to have on hand at the event.

Third, the reception that he received when I introduced him was so cool. And, he was so grateful for it. Sure, as St. Louisans, we'd root for anyone  from our city to fare well on the national or global stage. Hell, some people were even rooting for me. But, Dennis is such a "man of the people," and it's no act, so the crowd really has responded to him, and they gave him a huge ovation.

Fourth, my guys here at insideSTL.com put together an incredibly smooth-running tournament. Thank you to Producer Joe, Ryan Pickett, Tim Pickett, Michael Hurst, our intern Andy Van Gorden, and Jack Hillig who all helped in putting on an amazingly smooth poker tournament. Quite honestly, it takes a lot for me to walk away from something and not find a damn thing to bitch about...but with the exception of the fact that we had to raise the blinds aggressively to keep this from going until 3 in the morning...it was seamless. Thank you to my guys and everybody at F15teen for helping to put on a great show and working so hard to raise money for Prevent Cancer.

The tournament lasted about 5 hours, and I lasted about 3 of those hours. My KQ (when I was about to be blinded out) was vanquished by AJ, and that ended my run. Dennis got knocked out a little earlier after making a move to become a threat.

The final table was a hell of a show. At one point, Tim "Chix" Clark took the chip lead with 165,000 chips. The under the gun player, who was shortstacked, shoved all-in. Tony Russo, the poker room manager at Lumiere, came over the top all-in. And, Clark shoved his massive stack all-in.

The cards were turned up, and here's how it broke down:

UTG Player: 88

Russo: QQ

Clark: AA

Sure enough, the flop comes off Q77, giving Russo the full house, and Clark needing to catch the two-outer with an Ace on the turn or river...but he didn't get it, and that began a downward spiral. Another bad beat ended his run.

Steve Stolze, owner of The Sidebar, made a hell of a run to get back in the mix, but his night was ended when his AQs was beaten by Russo's KJs in an all-in preflop move by Russo. Russo flopped two pair and caught the boat on the turn...and that was it for Steve Stolze. Stolze finished in 5th place.

My poker email buddy "Brad" had KK busted by KJ, and that hurt him big time...and he was never able to recover. He finished 4th.

Steve Coleman finished third when his pocket 7's went down to Tony Russo's AJ as Russo caught an A on the flop.

It was time for heads-up action, and that set up Matt Morris (no, not that one) versus Tony Russo. "mattymo," as he is known on the insideSTL.com message board, was at a distinct  disadvantage versus Tony, and he made an "interesting" call with K4s when Tony pushed all-in preflop with A7s.

But, sure enough, the K came off, and "mattymo" was in good shape, but he had a small advantage. But, Tony rallied, and he crippled "mattymo" when Tony called "mattymo's" pre-flop all-in. Tony had KQs, and Morris had 44. Tony hit top two pair on the flop, and that was that. "mattymo" was down to 30k in chips...just enough to make him all-in with the 15k-30k blinds, and Tony finished him off  in the next hand.

The evening was really a good time. And, even though it's absurdly late, and I'm on the air in a couple of hours,  I'm pleased that we were able to get together,  play poker, and raise $4,000 for Prevent Cancer. I couldn't have done it without the guys from insideSTL.com, F15teen, all the dealers who came out to make it a smooth-running tournament, and Dennis Phillips.

We look forward to another event in the near future, as last night's turnout displays the number of people in the area who will happily get together on a weeknight to play some cards. Keep an eye on August 21st...

What did you think of the tournament? Log-in and post your comments, or you can email me at tmckernan@insidestl.com.