After a year’s hiatus, the million dollar buy-in Big One for ONE DROP tournament at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) will return in 2014. The WSOP has announced that the event will run June 29th through July 1st and will be televised at Caesars Palace until the final table.
The event was the brainchild of Cirque du Soleil founder and poker aficionado Guy Laliberté. He is also the Chairman of the charitable organization ONE DROP, whose goal is to provide access to clean, drinkable water to those in need worldwide. Specifically, the organization’s mission is “To fight poverty by providing access to water and raising awareness among individuals and communities about the need for mobilization in order to make safe water accessible to all, in sufficient quantity, today and tomorrow.”
In 2012, 48 players (the tournament’s max) each put up $1,000,000 to play in the event. $111,111 of each buy-in went to ONE DROP – thus, the tournament produced more than $5.3 million for the charity. After some players independently decided to contribute portions of their winnings, nearly $10,000,000 went to ONE DROP. Additionally, Greenlight Capital Founder and President David Einhorn, who famously finished 16th in the 2006 WSOP Main Event and donated his $650,000 in winnings to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, donated his $4,352,000 prize for third place in the ONE DROP event to an organization called City Year which aims to help kids stay in school, graduate, and become community leaders.
After the money was taken out of the buy-ins for charity (the WSOP did not take a rake), $42,666,672 was left for the prize pool. Antonio Esfandiari eventually won the tournament, taking down $18,346,673, the largest prize in the history of sports.
Next year’s event will feature the same buy-in and the same $111,111 per person to ONE DROP, but the maximum capacity has been raised to 56 players. And whereas most tournaments payout to about 10 percent of the field, this one will payout to anywhere from 16 to 20 percent, depending on the final registration figures.
Guy Laliberté has already claimed one of the seats in the tournament; he placed fifth in 2012. “It was a terrific inaugural event in 2012 with ONE DROP raising nearly $5.7 million from the BIG ONE event,” said Laliberté in a press release. “There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure access to water for all. I have no doubt that the poker community will once again live up to its reputation for generosity by helping to transform lives sustainably.”
ONE DROP was not forgotten at this year’s World Series of Poker. There were two events that benefited the organization: the ONE DROP High Rollers Event and the Little One for ONE DROP. Both were structured in a similar way to the Big One, except for lower buy-ins, $111,111 and $1,111, respectively.
