At a 2007 World Series of Poker final table made up of relatively unknown players, Lee Watkinson's name might have been the only one to ring any bells.

The Washington native holds a gold bracelet for winning the 2006 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship, has nine WSOP cashes and two second-place finishes at World Poker Tour final tables.

Watkinson qualified for the 2007 Main Event through Full Tilt Poker, which meant that he had a shot at an extra $10 million from the poker site if he won. It wasn't to be this time around, though. He went out in eighth place.

A businessman by trade, Watkinson spends his spare time playing poker and the stock market. But the cause truest to his heart are animal rights causes, specifically a project he created with his fiancée.

The couple raise money to rescue and retire chimpanzees living in captivity and being used for movies and as test subjects in research labs. With a few years of work on the project already under his belt, Watkinson is making a commitment to rescue as many as possible to house in an animal sanctuary.

The $585,699 he won for placing eighth in the 2007 WSOP Main Event should go a long way toward Watkinson achieving his altruistic goals.