Poker Donates Big at WSOP

Many World Series of Poker (WSOP) winners are again generously sharing their winnings with charities. Early in the series Mike Sexton, well known PartyPoker spokesperson and World Poker Tour commentator, won the $1 million Tournament of Champions. He donated $500,000 by giving $100,000 to each of 5 different charities. Those charities are: Special Olympics; The Buoniconti Fund, which raises money to cure paralysis; Paralyzed Veterans of America; Wounded Warrior Project, which helps families of those wounded or killed in battle; and Children Incorporated, which supplies underprivileged children around the world with food and supplies.

WSOP, WPT and WPO winner Barry Greenstein is a long-time contributor to Children Incorporated. He also donates a portion of his prize money to Guyana Watch, a charity that sends medical supplies to Guyana. Greenstein has been an advocate for poker players to contribute winnings to charities for many years. When David Einhorn won his very first cash at a major poker event by finishing 18th at the WSOP, he won a prize of $659,730. He had announced that he would donate 100% of his WSOP earnings to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. He also noted how playing for a charity he strongly supports greatly helped him relax and improved his play during the tournament.

Annually since the 2003 WSOP, both Phil Gordon and 2006 WSOP bracelet-winner Rafe Furst have invited players to pledge 1 percent of their WSOP winnings to the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation. They promoted it with the catchy phrase 'Put a Bad Beat on Cancer'. You can visit the Cancer booth at the current WSOP and find information and donation forms at www.badbeatoncancer.org. Players are not the only contributors at the WSOP. This year was the second WSOP at which Full Tilt raised money for the Las Vegas Boys and Girls Club.

Last year, Full Tilt raised over $100,000 for the organization with its Gala Ball. Nor is the WSOP the only venue for contributions by online sites. Many of them hosted fundraisers for hurricane and Tsunami victims last year, including Absolute Poker, Bodog, BugsysClub, PartyPoker, PokerRoom, PokerStars and PokerSchoolOnline. Similarly, ePassporte.com matched every dollar its users donated, up to $25,000, and gave it to the Red Cross Relief fund. Many US brick and mortar casinos did the same. These are by no means the only donations made by the poker community. But it clearly shows that winning is not only about earning bracelets and cash.

Mike Sexton summed it up eloquently when he said besides the good that the charities themselves do, that contributions do so much for the image of Poker and help advance the cause of poker as a viable mainstream sports business and leisure activity. Modeling his concept on the PGA Tour's approach and its huge prize pools, he also suggested that major poker tournaments should donate a percentage of the money to charity.