Two days ago, I shared the story of How We Organized a $10K Charity Poker Tournament to Benefit IDF Widows & Orphans. Yesterday, the tournament took place during 2024 WSOP Paradise at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. What began as the kernel of an idea this summer, with months of organizational efforts, ended up turning into a monumental success, raising a staggering $140,000 to support the cause. Having had a front row seat (and a seat in the event itself), here’s how things played out at the felt.
A Devoted Dozen Donors
Each entrant contributed not just their poker passion to the proceedings, but also manifestly “showed up when it counted” in support of the orphans and widows. In total, 12 players sat down to play, including notable names like GGPoker ambassador Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, 4x WSOP bracelet winner and 18-time WSOP Circuit Ring all-time leader Ari Engel, WSOP COO Gregory Chochon, Poker.org owner Eric Hollreiser, and GPI Award-winning poker broadcaster and commentator Jeff Platt.
Undeniably most prominent among the players, however, was PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg, who walked into the tournament area accompanied by GGPoker owner Michael Kim. With the two poker titans demonstrably throwing their full support behind the tournament, it was bound to be both an impactful and memorable special event.
The usual focus on competition notwithstanding, the tournament’s intimate two-table setting helped to create a sense of camaraderie and unified focus towards the shared goal: to raise funds for the bereaved families. With proceeds earmarked for IDFWO programs like empowerment workshops for adults and healing retreats for the children, the stakes carried a different weight.
Tournament Notes and Personal Highlights
The charity poker tournament played out over the course of five hours; par for the course given the turbo structure with 15 -minute levels. A personal highlight was briefly being seated near Isai Scheinberg, who proceeded to capture some of my chips with a flopped set and turned boat. I ended up calling down all the way to the river. I suppose I should’ve known better against someone who (as Sven Steil commented) “generally does well with all things connected to poker.” 🙂
By now, most folks in poker know that I’m primarily a mixed game player, so it was somewhat disorienting “only” getting two cards to play with the entire time. Even so, I managed to bob and weave my way to a not too shameful sixth place exit. All things considered (especially the turbo structure) and given that play reached the final three players approximately just 15 minutes later, I suppose I can’t beat myself up too badly about my performance.
Daniel Delivers Big
This tournament recap wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the enthusiastic, full-throated, and wholehearted support of Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu. Unable to participate in the tournament due to having made Day 2 of the $25K Dealer’s Choice event–he is here in the Bahamas to chase bracelets, after all–Daniel made a point of showing up to mingle with the players and add his unique energy to the scene. Vlog camera firmly in hand, Daniel made sure that many laughs and smiles were had by all. See for yourselves, starting at the 4:15 minute mark:
Finally, quite literally putting his money where his mouth is, Daniel made a $10,000 charitable donation of his own.
A Hollywood-esque Ending
In a conclusion that couldn’t have possibly been more poignantly and perfectly scripted, Ory Weihs and Anna Meissner (the Shalem Fund founders who first conceived the initiative’s idea) incredibly found themselves as the last two players standing.
With only two places paid, true to their commitment, the couple snap-decided to donate the entire $60,000 prize pool to the IDFWO, thereby doubling the initially designated 50% charitable portion of the proceeds.
For bragging rights around the house and to determine “which spouse would be sleeping on the couch,” Ory and Anna did play out the heads-up portion of the tournament, and after a few hands, Anna’s A10 offsuit shove ran into Ory’s AA. So, he’ll have the lovely winner’s photo below to gaze upon… from the couch. 🙂
I was there and witnessed the entire thing; I swear I’m reporting the action accurately; it was just incredible and too poetic for words to adequately capture.
A couple additional contributions were privately put forth while the tournament was ongoing, which when combined with Phil Hellmuth and Sorel Mizzi‘s donations from a couple days ago and Negreanu’s $10K donation, pushed the total charitable funds raised to approximately $140,000.
To everyone who participated, donated, or lent their support in any way: thank you for being part of this exquisitely wonderful charity poker story.
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