Charity Archives - Paul Phua Poker

This picture taken on December 31, 2019 shows firefighters struggling against the strong wind in an effort to secure nearby houses from bushfires near the town of Nowra in the Australian state of New South Wales. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)

Australia is in crisis.

Mother nature has torched the country like no country has been torched before. Flames from the 130+ fires have reached 230 feet into the sky, with temperatures rising to 1,000 degrees Celcius.

The smoke is destroying air quality, and firefighters have to contend with a new phenomenon as the fire creates thunderstorms and lightning strikes, fire clouds and ember attacks.

Help is needed.

The Aussie Millions is the most prestigious poker tour in the Asia-Pacific region and the first significant event of 2020. In November, hosts, the Crown Melbourne, and it’s owner, James Packer, donated $1m to help bushfire fighting services and provide community support. This week that donation rose to $5m.

Speaking to the press, Packer said:

“Australians are digging deep to support each other in these tough times; it’s truly inspiring. My family and Crown are eager to do more, and the best way we can help is to significantly increase our donation.
We hope these funds play a small part in helping our firefighters and easing the suffering of people who have lost their homes and the poor wildlife caught up in the blaze. We just want to do our bit.”

The money will go to areas where Crown properties exist such as New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, and here is a breakdown of fund distribution:

N.S.W. Rural Fire Service – $1m

Victorian County Fire Authority – $1m

Western Australia Bush Fire Brigade – $500,000

Australian Red Cross – $500,000

Victorian Government Fund in Conjunction With Bendigo Bank and the Salvation Army – $1m

Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service, Zoos Victoria – $1m

Aussie Millions News

The Aussie Millions consists of 23-events with buy-ins ranging between AUD 1,500 – 100,000, and Dzmitry Urbanovich is the first player to experience the comfort blanket feel of a win.

The Pole defeated Julien Sitbon after close to five hours of heads-up action at the boiling point of Event #2: AUD 2,500 H.O.R.S.E. Urbanovich collected AUD 28,755 (USD 19,964) for the win, after agreeing upon a heads-up deal.

It’s Urbanovich’s thirteenth live career title, and his second in H.O.R.S.E. after winning a 30-entrant $500 buy-in event during the 2017 partypoker MILLION in Sochi, Russia.

The partypoker pro’s Aussie Millions experience has resulted in 7 in the money (ITM) finishes, including 3 in 2018 along with a runner-up finish to Kenny Hallaert in an AUD 1,200 No-Limit Hold’em (N.L.H.E.) Shot-Clock event. Urbanovich has now earned more than $6m playing live tournament earnings and is the Polish All-Time Live Tournament Money Earner.

The 2018 Aussie Millions Main Event attracted a record 822-entrants, and Bryn Kenney won the AUD 1,272,598 (USD 914,617) first prize – launching himself into the year of his life.

With Liv Boeree and **Igor Kurganov giving half their $274k WSOP win to the REG poker charity they co-founded, Paul Phua looks at a different kind of raising in poker – raising money for charity**

In Casino Royale, James Bond has to win a game of poker to save the world. In real life, poker players are also playing their part in saving the world – through charity poker tournaments.
At the World Series of Poker 2017, Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov jointly won the $10,000 Tag Team Championship, taking down $273,964 in prize money. A nice twist to their joint victory is that the two players are partners in life as well as in poker. As they kissed for the cameras, it seemed a heart-warming instance of love conquering all. Even more touching, however, is that the power couple have pledged to donate half their WSOP winnings to charity.
Poker coach Doug Polk has also proven the worth of his own teachings by besting 130 players in the $111,111 buy-in High Roller for One Drop. It gives him his third WSOP bracelet, but it is also a big win for charity.

One Drop poker

One Drop was started in 2007 by Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil and a keen poker player. The non-profit organisation aims to provide access to safe drinking water for all. When One Drop stages a poker tournament, 11% of the buy-in goes to worthy causes. Since these charity poker tournaments are played for the highest stakes, that can be a lot of money.
The last $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop was in 2014. It made $4,666,662 for the charity – just from one poker tournament! That was won by my friend Dan Colman, whom I often play against in high-stakes cash games. (Watch the Paul Phua Poker School video profile on Dan Colman here, and his interview about online poker vs live poker here.)
I have played in several One Drop tournaments myself. I even won the Monte Carlo One Drop last year. Despite the €752,700 prize, I am still down overall, since the two times I have entered the Big One for One Drop cost $1 million each! But that is the beautiful thing about charity poker tournaments. Even when you lose, you feel like a winner. You just think of all the good that can be done with the money you have contributed. I donate to several worthy causes, but with charity poker tournaments I can pursue my favourite passion at the same time.

Other charity poker tournaments

Following in the giant footsteps of One Drop, a number of poker charities have sprung up. PokerStars has done its bit in the past, helping to raise half a million dollars for Hurricane Haiyan relief, amongst other causes. The World Poker Tour (WPT) has held numerous charity events, pulling in celebrity hosts such as Tiger Woods and Mel Gibson. The Charity Series of Poker raises money for a variety of good causes, and is backed by pros such as Mike Matusow, Greg Merson and Mike Mizrachi. The Triton Series, of which I have been a strong supporter since its inception, gives 100% of its profits to charity.
Returning to the WSOP’s tag team couple, Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov, the $136,982 they are giving away will go to REG (Raising for Effective Giving). This is an organisation they co-founded which encourages poker players to donate 2% of everything they earn to charity. Ambassadors include John Juanda, Cate Hall and Erik Seidel.
Liv Boeree put it well at REG’s launch in 2014: “I’ve been playing poker for a long time and thankfully, I’ve been reasonably successful doing so. With that came a wealth of amazing opportunities the game has given me, from travel to experiences to meeting heroes from many industries. But at the same time I’ve become increasingly aware of a growing emptiness I’ve been feeling, and it’s one I’m not alone with – it’s the question of what we, as poker players, are actually contributing long-term to society.”

Fundraising through poker

Many professional poker players struggle: they overplay, they burn out. Sometimes they take a sabbatical from the game, go travelling, and return refreshed. But perhaps what some need instead is the sense of a noble purpose beyond their own self-interest.
So if you ever start to feel hollow inside as you sit at the poker table or computer screen, consider playing for some higher goal such as a charity. It might just save your game – and the world.
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[dt_sc_h2 class=’aligncenter’]Charity poker tournament organisers[/dt_sc_h2]
One Drop. One Drop poker tournaments donate 11% of the buy-in to the charity, and all players at the WSOP are encouraged to give 1% of earnings.
The Charity Series of Poker. Stages tournaments in aid of charities such as Three Square Food Bank and Habitat for Humanity.
World Poker Tour (WPT) Foundation. Hosts a series of ongoing philanthropic poker events under the title WPT Playing for a Better World.
Triton Series. Donates 100% of profits to charities including The Red Cross and Project Pink.
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Paul Phua may not have won the big prize at this year’s 11 million Euro first prize Monte Carlo One Drop, but he got a great second best. On the last day of the four day event – one of the richest on the poker calendar – Paul Phua won the €752,700 pot on Monday’s re-entry poker game. He beat a field of 12 other players around the poker table, coming out on top against Mikita Badziakouski from Belarus in a final heads-up battle. It’s Paul’s second biggest ever win in tournament play. At one stage in the game, Paul Phua sent professionals of the standard of Andrew Robl and Tom Marchese to the spectator rail after a three-way all in.

Over 11% of the poker tournament buy-ins go to charity – all the money raised goes directly to One Drop’s water-access projects. For more on what One Drop does – visit https://www.onedrop.org/en/.

Lots of fun was had at the Solaire casino in Manila on the 9^th and 10^th September 2016.

Some of the world’s best players came to play at the Triton Charity poker tournament with Tom Dwan, Daniel Cates, Paul Phua and friends among the buy ins. Great news was that many more poker players arrived than expected, meaning more money raised for charity.

17 players and 60 buy ins over the two days, saw Wai Kin Yong take the top prize of 6,155,600 HKD (ca. 800,000 USD), with Paul Phua coming a respectable third, claiming 2,572,000 HKD (330,000 USD).

Triton Poker donated 1,150,000 Philippine Pesos (ca 24,000 USD) to Project Pink Philippines, a support group for cancer patients and their families in the Philippines. To find out more about them, and to donate, visit http://www.projectpink.org.ph/