Andrew Barber and Doug Polk find two very different ways to give their money away during the 48th Annual World Series of Poker.
It’s vogue in poker parlance to donate a percentage of your winnings; not a Madonna-like strike a pose Vogue, but a philanthropic poker love vogue.
There was a time when Barry Greenstein was the lone Robin Hood of Poker. Today, there are more Merry Men and Maid Marions than you can shake a shakey thing at. And what better time than to demonstrate your generosity than during the annual poker playing convention that is the World Series of Poker.
Raising for Effective Giving (REG) has to take some credit for this latest craze. The effective altruists began life with Philipp Gruissem, Liv Boeree, and Igor Kurganov on the cover of that particular magazine. Then, as the padlock came off the 48th Annual WSOP, eight more players joined them to help promote the need to reduce suffering in the world: Martin Jacobson, Erik Seidel, Cate Hall, Justin Bonomo, George Danzer, Christopher George, and John Juanda.
And they have begun life in top form.
Bonomo emerged from the Aria High Rollers and Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) with over a million in returns, and the two PokerStars lovebirds kissed and cuddled their way to the $10k Tag Team Championship before immediately donating 50% of their winnings.
One name not on that new ambassadorial list, but who continues to be a very vocal supporter of the effective altruism movement is Andrew Barber, and this week he began auctioning 10% of his $1,500 HORSE winnings to charity, bidding beginning at $150. John Juanda did something similar during the SHRB.
In 2015, Barber took down the $10,000 HORSE title for over half a million bucks, so he is good value for money.
And Barber isn’t the only person offering a piece of his action to some social media crazy kid. The man who ‘Beasts Everything’ is also getting in on the action.
Doug Polk, the man who is starting to become more of a Master of the Poker Universe than He-Man was in that other universe, is also giving away some cash, and a lot of it.
The Upswing Poker founder has confirmed his intention to donate 2% of his net profit at the WSOP, but it won’t be going to charity.
Using the business growth platform, Gleam.io, Polk has promised to line the pockets of one particular punter, and all they have to do is one of the following:
1. Follow him on Twitter
2. Visit his Facebook page
3. Visit his Instagram page
4. Subscribe to his YouTube channel
5. Follow him on Snapchat
6. Follow him on Twitch
7. Sign up to his newsletter
And if you do all seven of these then you get an additional bonus entry.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you amass 51k Twitter followers, and 113k YouTube followers.
If you are still hesitant about transforming into a Doug Polk super fan, then remember, he won the $111,111 One Drop for $3.6m, so the net profit thing is a sure thing and a nice chunk thing.
