When Jacob Zalewski was born, prematurely, the doctors who delivered him told his adoptive parents he had a 3% chance of survival and, even if he beat the odds, he would have zero quality of life.
As it turns out, the doctors were mistaken and, 42 years later, Zalewski continues to defy the odds.
Along the way, he realized his purpose: to do good. With help from his father and The Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon, Zalewski started the One Step Closer Foundation and, since then, has been raising money to help others living with cerebral palsy. As part of the foundation's yearly event calendar, the All In For Cerebral Palsy charity poker event takes over the PokerGO Studio, with plenty of big-name professional poker players and celebrities in attendance.
PokerOrg reached out to Zalewski to hear about the origins of his One Step Closer Foundation and the upcoming All In For Cerebral Palsy charity poker tournament at the PokerGO Studio.
Before we get into the poker of it all, can you tell me a little bit about how the One Step Closer Foundation came to exist and the important work you’re doing?
I started the One Step Closer Foundation in 2007 – the idea came to me, funnily enough, in Las Vegas. I was at Don Cheadle and Annie Duke’s Ante Up For Africa event. I didn’t have the money to play the event, I think it was a $5,000 buy-in, but my dad is good friends with Annie Duke – he’s a professional poker player – and Annie generously let me in to watch. So, that was my first real experience at a celebrity charity event and the celebrities who were there – Ben Affleck, who I became friends with at that event, Adam Sandler, just a who’s who of people.
I watched them raise like a million dollars for Darfur that day and I thought, ‘This is great, this is fun. We need to do this for cerebral palsy.’ And I’ve always had a bug for poker, I would sit on my dad’s lap when he was playing Johnny Chan and all of those guys. And, during that same event, I met my mentor, Sam Simon, who was the co-creator of The Simpsons. Sam took me to dinner that night and I told him my story and he basically said, ‘What do you want to do?’ I told him I was interested in movies and producing, but that I wanted to do something for the world, I wanted to leave a legacy. He said, ‘As far as producing goes, I’ll show you the ropes. The charity stuff, you handle that and let me know how it goes, we’ll go from there.’
It was kind of a trial by fire. I bought a suit and a briefcase – I had nothing in the briefcase, I just wanted to look professional – and I went to a couple casinos in Las Vegas to pitch the idea. Sure enough, I got laughed out of the buildings. They called me a dreamer, said it would never happen. I was very dejected and disappointed.
I get back home to Houston and I have a call with Sam. He asked me how it went and I told him it didn’t go well at all. I think he knew how it would go, he just wanted to see my resolve. So he said, ‘Is this still something you want to do?’ I told him I’m here for a reason.
When I was born, the doctors gave me a 3% chance of survival. I actually was adopted by two of the most wonderful people on the planet – my biological parents tried to abort me, but that didn’t work. I was born premature and the doctors didn’t think I’d have more than two weeks of survival, with zero quality of life if I did. My dad said during the moment the doctors were trying to convince him not to adopt me, I grabbed his finger and looked him in the eyes – and in that moment he knew I was his. Here I am today, I just turned 42 in February.
So, I’ve always known I was here for a reason and I always thought that if the big man put me in the position to do some good, I’d do it without hesitation. To use poker terminology, he called me on my bluff. So, Sam says, ‘Give me 10 minutes.’ I called him back ten minutes later and he told me we’re going to Hollywood Park Casino. He set up this whole tournament, put his own foundation on the line, based on this little dream I had. My dad gave me a blank check to do what I needed to do, it ended up costing us $30K. We had 44 players and raised $44,000 – Sam Simon and my dad ended up making the final table. My dad basically gave the tournament to Sam and he ended up donating all the money to us. And then we were off to the races.
Funnily enough, I tried to donate the entire amount to United Cerebral Palsy, but when they found out the money was from gambling – at the time I guess it was taboo – they didn't want to take it. I was like, 'Oh, okay. Well, I'm not killing the dream.'
So, I created my own foundation. Thank God that happened because we're still here seventeen years later. We've raised around $2 million and have contracts with top hospitals and institutions in the United States. We've changed countless lives and we'll keep going.
What are your plans for this year’s poker tournament?
I’m hoping to sell out. Cary Katz is a dear friend and I met him at the World Series one year. I saw him playing heads up in some event and noticed he had no one on his rail cheering him on, so I started supporting him. Cary ended up losing, but he took me out to dinner that night and I told him all about the foundation. He’s been an angel in supporting us, bringing players to our events. Then when he started PokerGO he gave us the Studio for one day out of the year, free of charge.
It’s a $1,000 buy-in, $500 rebuys and it’s a 50/50 event, so half goes to the foundation and the rest to the final table. The goal for this year is to sell out the PokerGO Studio.
Can you give us a preview of any celebrities who will be there?
I can give you a couple names that have come in the past and say there’s a good likelihood that they’ll be there this year. We’ve had poker people like Jennifer Tilly, Antonio Esfandiari, Eli Elezra, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow. It should be pretty packed with pros. We've had celebrities like Cheryl Hines, Montel Williams, Ted Danson.
Will you be at the tables yourself?
I will, but I'm very loose at my events because I think it's actually in bad taste to actually win it. Plus, I want to interact with people so I tend to start off playing, but then whatever happens happens. I love the game, I love to play. I've met some of my best friends at the table. I don't do it to try to win money, my whole thing is networking and I've met some of the greatest people at the poker table.
The One Step Closer Foundation's All In For Cerebral Palsy charity poker event takes place Saturday, April 26 and registration is now open with limited availability.
