A million thanks
Poker event has $1M buy-in, charity link
Entrants who pay $1 million for a seat at the table in a new World Series of Poker event this summer will have a shot at a record top prize of at least $12.3 million. Daniel Negreanu is among 30 players already in.
“I hesitated putting up the whole million myself because that’s a lot of money, but I think it’s for a good cause,’’ says Negreanu, a high-profile poker pro.
The July 1-3 event in Las Vegas, called the “Big One for One Drop,” will benefit One Drop, which seeks to improve access to water resources around the world. The final day of the nolimit Texas Hold’em event will be televised live on ESPN.
The WSOP says $111,111 out of each $1 million buy-in will go to One Drop, the charity started by Guy Laliberte, a poker-playing founder of Cirque du Soleil.
With wealthy businessmen in the field that will be capped at 48, Negreanu also is thinking like a pro. “It’s going to be good (poker) value,” he said. “You’re going to have a bunch of guys who are just rich and aren’t really professionals.”
The WSOP also will hold its $10,000 buy-in Main Event. In that event in 2006, Jamie Gold won poker’s current record prize ($12 million).