- This year, Event #47, the $111,111 One Drop High Roller, drew 166 runners, making it the largest $100k+ tournament on record, and brought in $554,278 for the charity.
- The Little One and over 450 individual donations brought that total above the stated goal of $1.1m.
- Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil and chairman of One Drop, founded the non-profit to provide clean, safe water to those without for people in West Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Poker players at the World Series of Poker 2013, through participation in two charity tournaments as well as private donations, raised $1,326,206 for the official charity of the WSOP, One Drop, organizers announced yesterday.
Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil and chairman of One Drop, founded the non-profit to provide clean, safe water to those without for people in West Africa, Asia and Latin America. The money raised at the 44th Annual WSOP alone will help over 13,000 people get just that.
This year, Event #47, the $111,111 One Drop High Roller, drew 166 runners, making it the largest $100k+ tournament on record, and brought in $554,278 for the charity.
Players without that kind of bankroll could still participate: Event #58, The Little One for One Drop, attracted 4756 players who saw $111 of their $1111 buy-in go to the worthwhile cause. The total from tournaments reached $1,081,194 with an additional $246,012 from 458 generous individuals who pledges some percentage of their winnings.
Over the course of two years, the players of the WSOP have helped raise almost $7 million for the charity.
The trend is set to continue in 2014 as the $1M Buy-In Big One for One Drop Super High Roller tournament is slated to return to the schedule during the next World Series of Poker. The prizepool is expected to exceed the first, which saw Antonio Esfandiari win in excess of $18M for first place.
Even though the initial goal of $1,111,111 has already been surpassed, the total is likely to climb higher still as the players returning to the Final Table in November and WSOP Circuit participants are being encouraged to donate 1% of their winnings.
