ArticlesPoker Charity donations
- By Efrain Valerio
- Published 03/24/2008
- Poker
- Unrated
Poker has become a cultural
phenomenon that have generated a lot of interest among people, the growing popularity
of the major poker tournaments has helped to create an enormous enterprise in
where the most noticed poker players are considered “celebrities” due their constant
appearances on the TV, magazines and online poker sites. Is not hard to figure
our why so many people is doing everything that is possible to take part in
these poker tournaments and why poker receives so much attention from the media,
the reason is simple and it’s constantly flashing on the TV screen during a televised
poker tournament: Money. I don’t want to picture poker players as despicable creatures,
we’re all faulty humans; however, selfishness, and egoism are probably two of
the most remarkable characteristics in a large percentage of the players
nowadays.
Playing poker can be a very
profitable way to assure your retirement, but it also has the potential to
destroy your life if you don’t know what you’re getting into. We all know that
poker can make you very rich or very unhappy, but not many people pay attention
to the game’s potential to help other people. I think that once a player
becomes a noticed character he or she has to realize that popularity is
something that normally doesn’t last for too long, I also think that being a pest
doesn’t really help you as a poker player, as the popular phrase says, “An
action is worth a thousand words”. Being a prick on the poker tables can help you
to create a name among your fellow players, but being an good example and
acting properly not only gives you respect as a person but also opens a lot of doors beyond poker.
A lot of
players see charity tournaments as a way to give something back to society;
however, for many players, the main benefit of playing charity tournaments is not
helping a worthy cause but winning notoriety and pots, even when the prizes are
generally low. Other players have better reasons to get into these tournaments
or even organize them, many players have provided sponsoring, organization, money,
and other needful resources for charity events. Famous faces including big
names such as Daniel Negreanu, have been unconditionally helpful to charity foundations
not only because they provide them with sponsorship deals and logistics, but because
they have also made large contributions to charitable works. The 2007 World Series
of Poker champion Jerry Yang said that he’s willing to donate 10% of his winnings
to Feed the Children foundation, an international organization that fights
hunger all over the world. David Einhorn also donated over $600K of his WSOP
earnings to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.
