Two dozen poker aficionados tried their hand at winning a no-holds-barred Texas hold ’em tournament last Sunday at 4 Corners to benefit Maovember. The players were focused (see above photo), only taking breaks to switch tables and knock back tasty Bloody Caesar shots (think Bloody Mary but with tomato juice including clam broth a.k.a. Clamato). The buy-in of rmb100 person went to charity as did proceeds from the shots and, along with donations, meant a jackpot of rmb3500 for Maovember. Well-played, 4 Corners!

A month of organizing events, selling pins and collecting donations paid off last weekend as the fundraising total for maovember 2014 passed 100,000 yuan.

The last few days of the campaign included events at Paddy O’Shea’s, George’s, BJ FOoDiEs and Fubar, several personal donations, and sales of maovember pins. We are checking on a few outstanding pins and Orbis, which will use the money to fund cataract surgeries in rural areas, is checking to see if there are any more online donations, but the current figure for this year’s campaign stands at 105,122 yuan, including 62,166 yuan from events, 22,956 yuan from donations and an even 20,000 yuan from pin sales.

That is enough money to fund cataract surgeries for more than 130 men in rural areas.

We will update with any fine-tuning of the total and have a few wrap-up posts about this year’s campaign. We’ll also be posting updates as this year’s maovember money is put to use by Orbis.

Thank you to everyone who supported our efforts this year.

Lots of people have asked how much maovember has raised. We are just finishing up collecting pin money today and will release a fundraising total tomorrow. In the meantime, many thanks to all those who attended our events, bought pins, made donations or contributed in other ways, from translating info to serving drinks to helping us spread the word. Tomorrow we’ll release the result, in numerical form, of all that work.

Maovember ended a busy month of fundraising with a party at Fubar on Sunday night. The festivities started with a Two Guys pie-eating contest — The Maodown — that saw Paddy’s Paul emerge as winner from among five contestants. The patrons then enjoyed music by DJ BB Deng as they sipped People’s Series wine, donated by Torres China, and Vedett ‘Maovember Label” Extra White beer, donated by Duvel Moortgat, at 25 yuan per serving, with all proceeds to maovember. Some also partook of spicy Fu shots at 20 yuan and Kro’s Nest pizzas at 10 yuan per slice. The party raised 2,220 yuan for maovember.

BJ FOoDiEs, the group with the slogan “Indulge for a Cause“, held its most recent event on Sunday at Jing-A Taproom. Attendees paid 100 yuan each to enjoy five shared starters (from sweet potato fries to popcorn chicken), a choice of mains (either a grilled cheese or a sausage sandwich) and a beverage, including one of Jing-A’s nine home brews.

At BJ FOoDiEs events, envelopes are handed out after dinner and attendees are free to include donations to the cause being supported that month. This time around, those donations are going to maovember — which will use them to fund cataract surgeries via Orbis — and total 4,156 yuan.

Beijing Beatlemania arrived at George’s Bar on Sunday as maovember celebrated its closing weekend. The fab four entertained the crowd with three sets of infectious songs during an afternoon gig that saw some of the younger attendees join Beatles lead singer Ian Burns on stage for Yellow Submarine.

Attendees enjoyed white, rose and red wines from Mariano Larrain of nearby shop La Cava as well as Heineken and Tiger beer donated by Kenny Lew. They also mowed, er, maoed down on 18-inch pizzas donated by Kro’s Nest. All proceeds from wine and beer (25 yuan per serving) and pizzas (75 yuan per pie) went to maovember and the party ultimately raised 3,040 yuan.

Enjoy a day of food, drink and music as maovember wraps up a month of fundraising.

The fun starts from 3 PM at George’s Bar in Workers Stadium as The Beijing Beatles return for a second year of maovember fun. There is also plenty of food and drink, including:

• 18-inch pizzas from Kro’s Nest (75 kuai per pie). We will have five each of Pepperoni Explosion, Sausage Fest, Honolulu Hurricane and Veg-Head. Each is enough for three people. First come, first served.
• Wine from La Cava (25 kuai per glass). La Cava owner Mariano Larrain will be on hand to pour a selection of the wines from his nearby shop.
• Beer from Heineken and Tiger (25 kuai per bottle). If wine isn’t your thing, grab a cold beer while enjoying the Beijing Beatles. Thank to Kenny Lew for the brew.

The party continues at Fubar from 6 PM with a Two Guys pie-eating contest headed by heavyweights Benny Bongo and Zona — see Maodown at Fubar — and tunes by DJ BB Deng. Enjoy tasty beverages, too, including:

• Maovember Beer (25 yuan): Vedett has made four cases of specially labeled bottles for us and these will be exclusive to Fubar. Enjoy a beer and get a souvenir.
• Grace Vineyard People’s Series Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon (25 yuan) from Torres China. Enjoy wine from what is widely deemed the best Chinese operation of the past decade.
• Fu Shots (20 yuan). Fubar will be creating a special shot for maovember.

All proceeds from the beer, wine, shots, and pie-eating contest — 100 yuan per person — go to maovember.

We hope to see lots of you today as we wrap up our campaign.

Duvel-Moortgat is following up on its support of maovember last year by yet again donating Vedett with special back labels. We’ll have 96 bottles of Vedett “maovember pin” extra white available at 25 yuan each starting from 6 PM on Sunday at Fubar, just ahead of the Two Guys Maodown. It’s not only a very nice beer, but that bottle will make for a very nice souvenir. Get them while they last!