Deal them in.

Lauren Cavanagh has the face of an angel – never a good feature for a poker player. “I can’t bluff,” she admitted at the start of Norm Yatooma’s charity poker tournament. “If I don’t have good cards I have to fold because I’ll never make it all the way through.” She didn’t make it, but her contribution went to a good cause. The tournament, held in Bloomfield Hills on Thursday, benefits Yatooma’s Foundation For The Kids, a nonprofit organization aimed at helping families that have lost one or both parents.

The Birmingham attorney started the charity in 2003 on Father’s Day. Whether it’s providing food or paying the utilities, the foundation has helped more than 400 families across Michigan over the past six years. “It’s a great opportunity to mix with people and expose them to the charity,” Yatooma said. “It’s a good money maker, but more than anything it’s a great opportunity to introduce what we’re doing to people who otherwise wouldn’t know about it. And of course what we’re doing is very important to me.”

His father was murdered in March 1993. Yatooma was a 20-year-old college student at the time. The killer was never caught.“He took the tragedy and turned it around,” said Jennifer Viano, a Farmington Hills resident and director of the foundation. “He lost his dad, which is one of the most devastating things a child can imagine. But he now looks back on it and realizes how much good has come from the inspiration he has had from his father’s death … he really turned it around into something very positive.”

Cavanagh, 26, works for the Yaffe Group ad agency in Southfield and knows several people with the foundation. She prepped for the game by playing some online poker.“I’m just here to give away my money,” she said, smiling. “This really is for a great cause.”

Jim Rossmann of Shelby Township and Jason Champine were the two big winners on Thursday, splitting a pot of about $2,500. The tournament itself brought in more than $5,000.“Perseverance … and good cards,” Rossmann said when asked about his winning strategy. “If you don’t get good hands you don’t win.” He brought seven people to the tournament.

The true winners from Thursday are the kids. According to Viano, nationally one in 27 children will suffer the loss of a parent before the age of 18.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “It’s a staggering statistic.”