Lee Davy gives you a short update on the important milestones of 2014 for Raising for Effective Giving, a community of poker players interested in making an impact in the world.
As I write this, Steve O’ Dwyer, Bryn Kenney and Roger Sippl are locked in a battle to win the $1.8m first prize at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) $100,000 Super High Roller. Three men have each paid $100,000 for the privilege of playing cards and the winner will win $1.8m.
I think it was the great Winston Churchill who said, ‘We make a living by what we get.” And whoever gets that $1.8m will be making a quite wonderful living. But there was a second part to that Churchill quote. One that deserves a line all on its own.
“We make a life by what we give.”
The poker community generates a lot of money, and thanks to the likes of Philipp Gruissem, Igor Kurganov and Liv Boeree there is a way to turn a fantastic living, into a great life.
A year ago, that trio, helped create Raising for Effective Giving (REG). The beginning of a movement of poker players all sharing the same goal: to hand a percentage of their poker winnings to those less fortunate, and therefore make a positive change in the world.
Great men and women in the world don’t look for opportunities – they make them. It was T. Boone Pickens who said that all too often people tend to ‘Ready! Aim! Aim! – Nobody likes to fire!’ Well, Gruissem and the gang took action. They fired. And they have hit the jackpot.
REG has recently sent out an e-mail to its members recapping what has been a great starting year for them – I wanted to share some of that information with you. Hopefully, it will inspire you to join the movement and start making a life through giving.
On the 3rd July the early REG members invited a number of influential people within poker to a lunch in Vegas. Gruissem and REG co-founder Adriano Mannino gave two very inspiring speeches and the team started to expand.
On the 18th Oct, Sorel Mizzi won the European Poker Tour (EPT) London $5k Turbo event for just under $100k. It was the first time that a REG ambassador had won a major tournament since the organization had been founded. By this time more than 60 people from within the poker industry had joined the movement.
On the 12th Nov, the whole world watched as Martin Jacobson won the $10,000 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, and captured a $10m first prize. Jacobson was a REG member, as was his fellow final tablist Jorryt Van Hoof. It’s safe to say that a lot of people outside of the poker industry benefited from that final table.
Then on Dec 18th REG held their first-ever charity tournament at the Aria Resort in Las Vegas, and the biggest online winner of 2014, Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates took the tournament down.
From July 1st to Sep 30th, REG members donated $37,873 to a series of charitable foundations created to help those that need it most, and they welcomed their 100th member by the year-end.
Are you ready to aim?
Are you ready to fire?
You don’t have to be a poker player to get involved. I am a poker writer and in 2014 I gave 2% of my gross income to REG. In 2015 I am increasing that to 3% and will continue to increase by 1% each year until the day I die.
I am firing.
Come and join me.
