Not everyone loses at poker

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is winding its way toward the final table. The fundraising blog "Fund Raising Idea" drew our attention to an interesting story on the growing number of players who pledge a percentage of their winnings to various charities. Cardplayer.com reports the following story:

In its inaugural year [2003] at the World Series, the “Put a Bad Beat on Cancer” initiative recruited around 80 players to make the pledge, including 2003 main event winner Chris Moneymaker. Over the past few years, the concept has grown and spread throughout the poker world. The biggest-name pros and amateur players alike now pledge varying percentages of their yearly earnings, one-time fixed amount donations, and even make lifelong commitments to donate. The World Series is not the only venue to participate in this fund-raising movement, however. donations from home games, cash games and local tournaments can also be made in order to further cancer research and prevention.

The website www.badbeatoncancer.org even uses a MySpace template in order to organize participants. While linking fundraising and gambling such as church bingo and lotteries raises a host of ethical questions... you can't deny that poker is hot... and who would pass up 1% of this year's $12 first place prize?