Hundreds of hedge funders, bankers and many others filled up Manhattan's gorgeous Gotham Hall last night for a sold out charity poker tournament.
REACH (Rewarding Achievement)--a nonprofit co-founded by T2 Partner's Whitney Tilson and funded by Bill Ackman--hosted its third annual "Take 'Em to School Poker Tournament."
REACH's mission is to help students from under-served schools in New York City get into college by taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses and passing the AP exams. To achieve this, REACH offers free Saturday AP prep courses at Baruch College to students from 30 different City schools. In return, the students get a Subway sandwich.
To date, the nonprofit has had nearly 19,000 students participate in its workshops.
The annual poker tournament attended by Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn and pro poker player Andy Frankenberger is REACH's main fundraiser.
We attended last night's tournament and it was awesome. And if you missed it, we've got all the photos you need right here.
First off, the event venue, Gotham Hall, located in Midtown Manhattan, was absolutely stunning.
Hundreds of financial professionals were there. All 250 poker seats were sold out well in advance of the event. The other 150 or more guests imbibed on cocktails and played casino games in the periphery.
Ji-mei Ma, REACH board chair and managing director at Nebula Capital, gave opening remarks and thanked guests. She told Business Insider that REACH resonates with her because education was a huge part of her background in terms of changing her circumstances. She immigrated to the U.S. at age six and grew up in project housing. Because of education and her mentors, she graduated from Smith College and has been on Wall Street for 14 years now.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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