Poker players will have a chance to take part in a very worthy cause when the European Poker Tour (EPT) makes its next stop on London September 28 to October 5. PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker room, will host a two-day £100,000 guaranteed charity event for Cancer Research UK, an organization that supports researchers, doctors, and nurses throughout the United Kingdom in the fight toward ending cancer. The event will begin October 2 at the Hilton Metropole Hotel.
The re-entry charity tournament has a £100+10+10 buy-in and a guaranteed prize pool of £100,000. £10 of every entry goes to Cancer Research UK and PokerStars has agreed to match both the £10 charity contribution and all additional player donations. Players wishing to make a donation can transfer funds from their account to the “CancerUK” account on PokerStars.
Online registration for the event is available now under the “Events” tab in the PokerStars lobby. From there, players can find the charity tournament by clicking “EPT,” then “Qualifiers,” and then “EPT7-London: Event 25.”
PokerStars has always been the charitable type, offering poker tournaments to help give back to those in need all over the globe for years. The site helped raise more than €160,000 at the EPT Season 5 stop at Monte Carlo, where it held a charity event benefiting Ante Up for Africa. It also raised more than $250,000 for AIDS research via the 2007 Life Ball and the 2010 PCA amfAR Charity Tournament and another $150,000 following the earthquake that struck China in April.
In the United States, PokerStars hosted a charity event to raise money for the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund following the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech in 2007. From the $20 buy-in, $0.01 went toward the tournament’s prize pool. The remaining $19.99 from each entry was matched by PokerStars and then sent to the Fund. The tournament drew 281 players and raised $11,285 for those who needed help with grief counseling, memorials, communication expenses, comfort expenses, and incidental needs following the tragedy.
Cancer Research UK is another foundation that PokerStars is pleased to offer support to. The organization is the world’s leading charity dedicated to beating cancer through research. It has saved millions of lives by discovering new ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer and supports over 4,800 scientists, doctors, and nurses across the UK to investigate all aspects of the disease.
EPT London is one of the more popular stops on the tour and should attract a large field this year, as it gets underway just after the completion of the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event, which is also taking place in London. Last year, USA’s Aaron “aguskb” Gustavson won the EPT London Main Event for £850,000 after outlasting a strong field of 730 players. Several of the world’s top names are expected to take part again this year, including Team PokerStars Pro members Daniel Negreanu, Greg Raymer, Vanessa Rousso, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, and Vicky Coren.
