Monday, May 21, 2007

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PokerStars.com goes to the vault for Darfur

By Christopher Hunt

The poker community has never shied away from charitable causes, and PokerStars.com is no exception. And this summer, together with the stars of Ocean's Thirteen, they're donating well over $1 million to relieve suffering in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region.

To start with: PokerStars.com is donating $1 million directly to Not On Our Watch (NOOW), an organization created by Ocean's Thirteen stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle to focus international attention on the ongoing civil strife in Darfur.

PokerStars.com is also providing opportunities for players to get involved themselves, through direct donations and a series of re-buy charity tournaments in which the entire prize pool is matched and donated to the relief effort.

The process to donate directly is simple: Go to the main lobby, then to requests, and then drop down to transfer funds. Type in the user ID "NOOW" and the amount you'd like to donate.

The funds will then be taken right from your account and credited to the charity, with PokerStars.com matching all donations.

Alternately, players can participate in a second special charity tournament on May 27, 2007, at 3:30 p.m. (EDT).

Buy-in is $10 plus re-buys, with prizes for the top four players being tickets to the June 5 Ocean's Thirteen premiere in Los Angeles plus two night's hotel and $2,000 for travel and expenses.

The top 18 finalists receive an autographed copy of the Ocean's Thirteen DVD.

The total prize pool will go to NOOW, and PokerStars will again match the donation.

PokerStars will also host a third charity tournament, date still to be determined, with the winner receiving a professional poker table baize signed by the film's stars.

For all the details and to make a donation, visit PokerStars.com

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