A new concept has recently debuted in the world of online poker: online charity poker. Sure, various online poker rooms have hosted charity tournaments following the occasional sweeping natural disaster, but never before has an online poker site been launched mainly as a platform for charity poker. BenefitPoker.org, which recently joined the Excapsa poker network, is just that. Excapsa donated the technology powering BenefitPoker, which will host its first tournament next week.

Not-for-profit organizations have found that poker tournaments make lucrative fundraisers. Sure enough, charity tournaments are popping up at unparalleled rates. Land-based tournaments, however, entail a lot of overhead, which translates into financial risk for organizations. Taking charity tournaments online virtually eliminates overhead costs, and opens play up to users all over the world.

The first charity tournament to be held at BenefitPoker will aim to raise money for Dylan Hartung, a 7-year-old cancer patient from Australia. Operation OZ Kids USA has taken made it a priority to raise money for Dylan, who is currently undergoing treatment in New York. Operation OZ Kids USA will be the first organization to make use of the BenefitPoker charity tournament platform.

While BenefitPoker's trademark feature is its charity online poker tournaments, with 80 percent of tournament proceeds going to charity, the site moonlights as a standard online poker room. In addition to charity tournaments, players can access real-money cash games where they can play against users playing at sites across the Excapsa network.
Organizations looking to host a charity poker tournament online can contact the site at benefitpoker.org.

Source:  Poker777 Staff

Wednesday, 23 November 2005