Poker Gives: A New Poker Charity
Written by Matt W | Thursday, February 12th, 2009
Poker players always had big hearts. Whenever called upon to contribute for a cause they stood up to be counted. Now they are getting more organized. Four persons associated with poker have teamed up to start Poker Gives. And they could not have chosen a better name because Poker Gives will donate to selected charities. These four are Mike Sexton, Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher and Lisa Tenner.
Linda Johnson and Lisa Tenner are co-owners of CardPlayer Cruises. Linda has been the in studio announcer for the WPT. She was one of the four inductees in the inaugural year of the Women in Poker Hall of Fame in 2008. In the ceremony Sexton was the emcee and Fisher delivered the keynote address. Linda is also a guest columnist at Poker News Daily. Mike Sexton was first employed by Linda as a writer for CardPlayer Magazine. But he became famous as the host of the televised episodes of the WPT. Like Linda, Sexton is a guest columnist at Poker News Daily. Jan Fisher is WPT’s statistician and along with Linda he is a founding member of the Tournament Directors’ Association. Tenner is the founder of the famous female poker squad, The Queens of Hearts. The four have been interconnected in many ways over the years. Linda explained, “We are all friends and wanted to do something to give back.”
Poker Gives has selected five charities that it will service. These are Special Olympics, Sunflower Children, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, American Cancer Society, and Paralyzed Veterans of America. Everyone in the poker fraternity is bound to approve of these charities because there is nothing controversial or objectionable about them. Poker Gives has done its number crunching and has committed to transfer at least 95% of the donations received from the poker players. They will be able to keep costs to less than 5%. The four promoters will not be getting any remuneration or other compensation from Poker Gives.
Poker Gives has already received the support of the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, which is sponsored by CardPlayer. It will host a charity tournament on the 4th of June, a day before the induction ceremony of the 2009 nominees. The founding members are exploring other avenues as well. They are leveraging their contacts to get poker rooms to donate a portion of their receipts to Poker Gives. Declaring a designated Poker Charity Day is also on the cards. And those who want to make a donation but do not have the time to locate a deserving charity can simply write a check to Poker Gives. Sexton summarized the essence of Poker Gives when he said, “Poker Gives will act as a charitable vehicle to collect and redistribute donations from card rooms, fundraisers, poker players and special events.”
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· Written by Matt W · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
