Last February, the Tallahassee Beer Society lost one of its most active and loyal members: Josh Vanderpool, who died at the all-too-young age of 34 years old.
Josh was a fun-loving guy who worked for local Tallahassee business Orchard Pond, and in his free time he loved to enjoy local craft beer, spend time with his beloved dog MJ, play tennis and basketball and take part in the occasional poker game with friends.
But it was that last hobby that we latched on to when Josh died, and last year we put on the inaugural Josh Vanderpool Memorial Charity Poker Tournament at The Red Shed BBQ Restaurant (3031 Crump Road) to raise money for Josh’s favorite charity, Last Hope Rescue.
And this Saturday night, we’re doing it all again in a celebration of Josh’s life.
The 2nd Annual Josh Vanderpool Memorial Charity Poker Tournament will go down on Saturday at The Red Shed once again, this time from 6-9 p.m. – or until one man or woman is left standing and crowned the champ!
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The game is No Limit Texas hold ’em, the cost to enter is $55 per person and the field will be capped at 50 players this year. Last year, we had 30 entrants and were able to raise $2,500 for Last Hope Rescue, a local animal rescue organization that focuses its efforts on keeping dogs out of kill shelters and finding foster and/or permanent homes for them around the Big Bend.
But wait … there’s more!
Amicus Brewing is pouring
When we put the event together last year, we reached out to Tallahassee’s next brewery-in-planning, Amicus Brewing Ventures (amicus.beer), which is slated to open sometime later this year across from Cascades Park in Downtown Tallahassee. At the time, however, Amicus had just announced their plans to start their build out and we asked them if they wanted to use this event to showcase their beer and pour it for the first time for craft beer fans in Tallahassee.
Their response?
“Say less. We’ll be there.”
Well, great news: Amicus is coming back for a second year in a row and will once again be pouring their beer — FOR FREE — for anyone who wants to come out and sample it. They will also be collecting donations at their table for Last Hope Rescue, so if you don’t end up playing in the tournament, please be sure to come out, watch the action from the rail, grab a bite from the Shed, try their beer and drop a donation.
Red Shed barbecue
The Red Shed will also be cooking up a great barbecue special for Saturday during the event – $6 pulled pork sandwich and chips – and they will have live music from local band The Barber Brothers from 3-6 p.m. in the lead-up to the event.
We will also have tons of raffle prizes from local businesses in an effort to help try to raise even more money for Last Hope. Each player that enters the tournament will get five raffle tickets just for participating, and you can buy additional raffle tickets for $1 each.
And any player who is knocked out in the first 90 minutes of the tournament has the option to rebuy for $25 and add more money to the donation pool. After 90 minutes, the rebuy will end and the tournament will become a standard freeze-out format – meaning once you’re knocked out, your dream of being the Josh Vanderpool Memorial Poker Champ is over! And yes, last year’s champ, Tallahassee’s Ben Hensarling, IS returning to defend his title!
Remembering Josh
In all seriousness, many of you reading this didn’t know Josh, but take it from us that he was an incredible guy who was very selfless and always super thoughtful when it came to his friends, family and even strangers.
An example: We spent a day at the beach with Josh roughly 2 years ago during the middle of the pandemic when outside activities were at a premium. And at one point we came across a homeless man who was asking for any kind of assistance as his kids sat nearby. Josh went over and dropped him a $20 bill – quite the donation to a random stranger, right? – and when we asked him later why we had given so much, he said: “There’s just a lot of people out here hurting right now, man. And his family looked like they could use a hand. It’s just money. I’ll make more.”
And that anecdote pretty much sums up what a great guy Josh Vanderpool was.
So we hope you’ll make plans to come out Saturday and help us celebrate Josh’s memory, while also having a great time at the card table among fellow craft beer and poker lovers like Josh. And if you have any questions at all about the event, or the format, or the rules, don’t hesitate to reach out to us ahead of time at: tlhbeersociety@gmail.com.
Cheers to you, JVP. Miss ya, brother.
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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