A Tribute to Eddie Handler…

With great sadness, we lost a friend on the night of January 14th, 2006. Eddie Handler, of Merrick-NY died suddenly and without warning at one of our “Disciples of Poker” events on the Long Island Circuit. Eddie had actually reached the final table of 10 and had been enjoying a relatively low-key night when tragedy struck him. Attempts to revive him via first aid and through a call to 911 did not pan out.

I had only known Eddie for brief time, and at his funeral service in Hempstead, Long Island, I quickly learned more about the type of man that Eddie Handler was. He was a loving husband, a son to his surviving mother, and a father to three daughters. He was to be 60 in a couple of months and I’m sure his thoughts were turning to grandchildren, his wife, family and recreation.

Eddie left a mark on me in the summer of 2005. Our friend Jeff aka “Filmbuyer” had asked me to host a charity poker tournament at a country club on Long Island and Eddie was one of 20+ players who showed up to play. From the very beginning (and as his daughter lovingly described at his funeral service) he was opinionated. He would not tolerate a schlock poker tournament and the questions he asked and the manner in which he addressed me led me to quickly conclude that I needed to run a worthy poker tournament. And worthy the tournament was.

Eddie recognized that about half the room was filled with newbees and he quickly took advantage of weak play, built a poker stack, survived a couple of all-ins, and eventually started accumulating chips and advancing in the tournament. Jeff the Filmbuyer was also playing and another player in the tournament played who had actually qualified for the 2005 WSOP main event! Eddie ended up cruising past these guys and into the final table, eventually ending up victorious. Ironically his winning hand was 7/2 off suit, and as I took the ceremonial picture of the winner, he held the 7/2 off suit cards rather sheepishly as to say “take the damn picture and let’s go get a drink!” That picture is floating around in cyberspace somewhere with Eddie and his 7/2 off suit. I guess pot odds dictated that he had to call in the final hand.

Jeff had told him about our little gathering on Long Island and Eddie showed immediate interest. As it turns out, Eddie had been honing his poker skills in other card games around town.

From the very beginning, Eddie was clearly “one of the guys”. He was not afraid to enter new territory or take on new competition. In his first tournament in October 2005, he ended up in the money and he felt he was on his way. Next, he came back for the “Thanksgiving Massacre Tournament” and sadly for him, he went out quite early. Eddie ended up sticking around that night, collecting information on people and picking up a few odds and ends on all the players and enjoying the buzz that a poker tournament brings to people.

By Saturday, January 14th, he was ready to play well and play well he did! With 11 people left, he was all-in against one other player. His top pair of aces held up and we seated a final table, with Eddie a part of it. The embedded photo shows Eddie in the foreground to the right. As you can see from the picture, he was relaxed, enjoying himself and looking forward to an evening of poker and fellowship.

Sadly he was taken from this earth shortly thereafter. We were all saddened by Eddie’s passing. Eddie was of Orthodox Jewish faith, so some of us went to remember him the following Monday at the funeral service.

After hearing his daughters speak about him (so bravely), I wish I had gotten to know Eddie Handler better. He was in a leadership role as a branch manager for a well known film corporation and I can only imagine what a tremendous asset he must have been to this company.

Over the past few months, I would occasionally see him on the Long Island Railroad. I said to my wife “Hey, that’s Jeff’s friend, Eddie Handler!” A couple of times he would see me and tap me on the shoulder as he brushed past me on his way to work. He was a hard driving, no nonsense New Yorker, and obviously loved family man, and a fantastic father with a deep belief in God in the Jewish tradition.

Six of us went to his house last night for a Shiva call. There was “Chief Disciple”, “Johnnnno”, “yyyyyman Eddie”, “Pois-on Pat”, “Notphilivey Stevie” and “Andy - Kaufman”. We were graciously received by the family. yyyyyman-Eddie was actually selected as the 10th minyan for the prayer service. We prayed with the family for our friend.

It must be very hard for his family to go on, because it’s very hard for us to go on with the game we love without him. The cards and chips have gone silent on the Long Island Circuit for a few weeks in his honor.

At some point, we will resume our play. For the remainder of the poker season, the final table shall seat only 9 in his honor. We will eventually name an annual tournament after Eddie and he will probably be commenting quite loudly to God that I am now calling his winning poker hand of 7/2 off suit…. “The Handler”. Some may scoff at the notion of naming such a junk hand after Eddie, but with 10/2 off suit known as “The Brunson”, I believe Eddie is in good company.

God Bless Eddie and his family.

Frank “Chief Disciple” Palumbo
Wantagh, New York.