First online charity poker tournament
With more than 550,000 registered infections, the USA is now the country in the world most affected by the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the army of unemployed is growing; over 16 million people have lost their jobs. In order to counter the devastating effects of the health crisis, the actor and passionate poker player Ben Affleck has now played his first online charity poker tournament with celebrities.
Actors such as Tobey Maguire, Matt DAmon, Adam Sandler, Jason Bateman and Bryan Cranston sat at the virtual gaming table, as did comedian Sarah Silverman and NFL top star Tom Brady. A host of famous poker pros also took part in the tournament, including Phil Hellmuth, Jaime Staples, Jason Koon and Alex Foxen. Poker legend Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson also played.
The poker tournament took place on Saturday (April 11th) under the title “All-In for Feeding America” and was broadcast live on the streaming platform Twitch. It was open to 75 players and ultimately 65 took part. The popular variant of Texas Hold'em was played, in which each player receives two cards and has to form a winning hand from five community cards. The buy-in was $10,000.
Ebony Kenney ultimately emerged as the winner, beating runner-up Kevin Pollak heads-up. The Florida-born poker player has already won the Florida Poker Championships and has earned almost $300,000 in her career. In the USA she is known (among other things) as a dancer, casino dealer, actress, model and as a co-host for MMA (mixed martial arts) fights.
The real winner is Feeding America
“Watch us and join in,” Affleck had previously invited his fans on Twitter to get involved in the tournament. Those with a Twitch account were able to send consequently messages to participants and donate themselves. This raised $1 million and donated it to Feeding America. The organization thus emerges as a true winner in the poker game. Affleck explained:
"I am pleased to announce that I have partnered with Feeding America, the nation's largest national hunger relief organization, to raise money for the people who need it. 100 percent of the proceeds will benefit Feeding America."
Also from the aid organization Affleck's initiative advocated. According to Katie Fitzgerald, Chief Operating Officer of Feeding America, the food supply in the United States has continued to deteriorate over the past few years. Even before the pandemic, which left millions new unemployed, more than 37 million people in the United States were struggling for food.
Hardly any food supplies left
In late March, Feeding America reported on a food bank near Pittsburgh where people waited in a mile-long car line for up to five hours to receive emergency food assistance. Now school closures, job losses, unpaid sick days and the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus have meant that low-income families in particular are at risk of food shortages. Fitzgerald said in a statement:
"Demand for food is skyrocketing, but supply is low. Many food banks are relying on inventory to respond to increasing demand. We are quickly reaching a point where food banks are running out of supplies. We need to get food to food banks as quickly as possible."
The aid organization Feeding America, founded in 1979, is based in Chicago and now has a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks. These supply more than 46 million people with food every year. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, the aid organization is now facing an unprecedented challenge. The sum of 1 million US dollars has probably been invested at this point.
Poker industry postpones tournaments
The entire poker world has now reacted to Corona. All major live events have been canceled. Many organizers are switching to online tournaments as an alternative. The WSOP (World Series of Poker) makers recently announced an online spring championship with a $4 million prize guarantee. It is still completely unclear whether the WSOP will take place in 2020.
The providers PartyPoker and Poker Central have also decided to move their tournaments to the online world. Although the actual Poker Masters tournament is not scheduled until October, a digital version of the tournament is currently running. There are 30 events on offer with buy-ins between $10,300 and $51,000. The guaranteed prize pool is a whopping $2 million.
The same applies to the renowned World Poker Tour (WPT), where there is a guaranteed prize pool of a whopping $5 million. An online version entitled “WPT Online Series Championship” is planned for mid-May. According to the organizers, it is an “honor to host the first-ever WPT online series.” In the future, we will look for further opportunities to provide the community with appropriate offers in cooperation with good ones Online casinos close.
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