To Have and to Hold

February 23, 2009 (InfoPowa News) — The entertaining New Zealand edition of the international magazine Stuff reported last week on an all-in poker wedding sponsored by the Christchurch Casino in an innovative "To Have and To Hold" promotion for poker couples.
 
The promo saw nine engaged couples playing for two-and-a-half hours over the weekend with the main prize a sponsored wedding, followed by a 7-day Las Vegas honeymoon at the MGM Grand.
 
The winners were Hollie and Perry Vogel, both in their early twenties, who fast-forwarded their September 2009 wedding plans on winning the tournament and were married right away.
 
With a stack bolstered by Hollie's winnings from a Queens and nines full house, it took Perry just 10 minutes of heads-up play to land a tournament-winning pair of aces. Those cards defeated a pair of fives and saw Perry, 21, and Hollie, 22, married three hours later.
 
Perry's poker skills were honed in friendly games, while Hollie took a crash course in poker books before the tournament.