The outpouring of support to the millions of people affected by the devastating earthquake in Haiti continues, as online poker room Mansion Poker is the latest site organizing an event to raise money for the cause.
Mansion Poker is partnering with Casino.com to host a charity online poker tournament on Sunday, January 31st in which all of the profits will be donated to the Red Cross. Additionally, Mansion Poker and Casino.com plan to match all donations. The tournament is scheduled to take place at 6:00pm GMT and will feature a $10 buy-in. The top ten finishers will all make the money, with the winner of the event earning a $1,000 prize and fourth through tenth places each receiving $100. The tournament will not include any additional registration fees and all of the residual prize pool after the top ten are paid will go to charity.
Should players on Mansion Poker not have time to play on Sunday, but still want to make a contribution, the site has set up a series of eight “Holding Tank” lobbies in which players can donate sums of money ranging from $1 to $500. Like similar tournament lobbies set up on other online poker sites, players will register for a dummy poker tournament and the buy-in will go straight to the Red Cross. Mansion Poker will also match donations to these Holding Tank lobbies.
Jeff Turner, Marketing Director for Mansion Poker and Casino.com, encouraged users to reach into their wallets and help out a worthy cause. “Players can be confident that the donations generated from the online poker tournament will be used to the maximum benefit,” Turner explained in the official announcement of the event. “Be sure to register for the tournament and help the victims of Haiti!”
The Aid For Haiti tournament is a network-wide event, so players on other iPoker Network rooms like William Hill Poker, Titan Poker, Paddy Power Poker, Blue Square Poker, and CD Poker can also take part. The Holding Tank tournament lobbies will also be available on the various iPoker sites. All of the rooms on the iPoker network do not accept customers from the United States.
So far, the online poker world has generated an impressive $1.5 million in donations thanks to similar charity tournaments at PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, the Cake Poker Network, and UB.com. The players themselves have also organized fundraising efforts, including pledging a percentage of their online tournament winnings and donating pieces of their live tournament scores at events like the Borgata Poker Open.
According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, since the January 12th quake, more than $560 million has been raised worldwide to go towards the relief efforts. Over $66 million was raised during the telethon hosted by actor George Clooney last week and another $6 million came from the text message campaign put on by the Red Cross. Even though it has been over two weeks since the earthquake hit, Haiti still appears to be on the hearts and minds of people worldwide as the donations continue to pour in.
