Online Poker World Turns Out For Haiti Earthquake Victims
The whole world has been rallying together to help Haiti in its time of need, at that includes the online poker world. Haiti was recently struck by a 7.0 earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands of people there and deccimated the land.
Throughout the past couple of weeks, several online poker rooms have been holding charity tournaments to benefit Haiti rescue and relief efforts, while others are simply collecting donations from the their players on behalf of the effort.
In an announcement made by former Republican Senator from New York, Alfonse D’Amato, The Poker Players Alliance donated $1.5 million, collected from the combined efforts of cooperating poker sites. At the helm of those philanthropic sites are the two biggest, Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars. Over 22,000 FullTilt members raised $293,211, and the site saw fit to match that contribution for a total Full Tilt Poker donation of $586,423.
Some 50,000 online poker players donated money at an average of about $15 a piece to Haiti relief efforts, totalling around $760,000. PokerStars is still accepting donations until January 31. As is Cake Poker, no stranger to charitable giving, who was another of the sites D’Amato thanked and applauded for raising significant funds for Haiti relief. Others that participated included Absolute Poker, UB, Doyle’s Room, and RedKings.
Meanwhile, over 700 players from the CEREUS Online Poker Network, entered a $5 rebuy earthquake benefit tournament. UB (formerly Ultimate Bet) and Absolute Poker, two CEREUS sites, are also encouraging members to donate their player points to the efforts. And on Doyle’s Room, Academy Award nominee Mickey Rourke let a bounty be placed on his head in a Bounty Tournament.
