Betting On Copeland

This year’s CIC included an off-site event that held great significance on a human scale: a charity poker tournament February 14th helped raise $100,000 for industry vet Ian Copeland, who is fighting cancer.

The tournament was held at the Harley Davidson Café on the Strip, and was hosted by William Morris Agency’s Brent Smith, whose first job in the business was working for Copeland at the NYC-based FBI Agency.

About 40 major industry “players” participated, including Arny Granat, Alex Hodges, Steve Martin, Jerry Mickelson and Rob Light. The winner of the tournament was Los Angeles waitress/caterer Kasey Kilmer, who had industry sponsors backing her.

“She plays a lot, but she’s not a pro or anything,” Smith told Pollstar.

More important was the fact that the top three finalists all threw their winnings back into the pot, which went to aid Copeland, who was diagnosed with cancer last summer.

“I was overwhelmed by the grace, friendship and love that exists in a business that is thought to be cutthroat,” Copeland told Pollstar. “My thanks go out to everyone who even thought kind thoughts because it seems to be working miracles.”

Smith said that since Copeland was diagnosed, the medical bills to fight the cancer have been tough to keep up with.

“He has insurance but he’s getting his ass kicked financially,” Smith said.

When trying to find a way to help his friend, Smith remembered hearing about the legendary poker games that would take place in the FBI Agency office.

“It used to be the Ron Delsensers and the Ian Copelands and the John Huies and the John Dittmars,” said Smith, who said he never attended. “They would have poker games at night in the office. I heard the poker was crap, but the games were a lot of fun.”

When making the calls to gather players for the tournament, Smith wasn’t surprised to find out that nine out of 10 people didn’t even know Copeland was battling cancer.

“He was a bit shy in the beginning about letting people know,” he said. “He wasn’t out there sharing this with a bunch of people.”

– Mitchell Peters