While a lot of the world sees poker as purely gambling, we know that it’s not only a game of skill, but can also provide real value to the world as a fundraiser event for charitable organizations. Exactly that is planned for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which begins this week. PokerStars has teamed up with amfAR to host a charity event which will raise money to go towards HIV/AIDS awareness.
amfAR is one of the leading foundations for AIDS research in the world today, having been founded back in 1985. The international organization is dedicated “to ending the global AIDS epidemic through innovative research.” Since being founded over 2,000 research grants have been awarded to teams across the globe, and over $307 million has been spent to further the cause. In addition to donations from the public and other sources of revenue, amfAR will be co-hosting a poker tournament at the upcoming PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is, as you can probably guess by the name, a series of poker tournaments hosted in the Caribbean and sponsored by PokerStars. The series is televised and attracts a lot of big names with the range and prizes increasing substantially since the inaugural event in 2004, with this year boasting over fifty events including a Main Event with a staggering estimated prize pool of twenty million dollars. This year is not the first time that the PCA has also taken on a slightly humanitarian role in hosting a charity event, and these tournaments have become a regular feature.
In fact, this year’s tournament will probably seem very similar to players who attended the PCA last year, as the 2010 Adventure also saw a charity tournament hosted by PokerStars and amfAR. As is often the case with such events, there is an excellent celebrity turnout, ranging from famous poker players to stars like Nelly, Playboy Playmate Jayde Nicole, Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland and many other who were in attendance last year. If you like the idea of spending some face time with your favorite celebrities while helping out a good cause, then this tournament could very well be perfect for you.
The event will take place on January 13th, kicking off at 18:00 ET. Last year featured a very respectable prize pool with a first place pay-out of $37,500, some of which was donated to amfAR by Spencer Benjafield, the eventual winner. The tournament is invite-only, so you can’t simply arrive on the day and register to play, but all PokerStars players are given the chance to win an invite to the tournament when they purchase their PCA Main Event ticket, so there’s even more incentive to make the trip to the beautiful resort which plays home to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.