The culminating tournament of this year’s 49th Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP), the fourth edition of the Big One for One Drop, has registered thirty player buy-ins one month before the cards are dealt.
The charitable contribution from each buy-in has been reduced to 8 percent equating to $920,000 of each buy-in forming the prize pool. If the 48-player cap is reached the prize pool will reach a record $44,160,000.
The current thirty comprise a mix of poker pros and amateur players, WSOP said. Confirmed players include Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, Christoph Vogelsang, Bryn Kenney, Nick Petrangelo, Rainer Kempe, Dominik Nitsche, Steffen Sontheimer, Jason Koon, Phil Ivey, Adrian Mateos and Phil Hellmuth. Philanthropic businessmen include Rick Solomon, Talal Shakerchi, and Leon Tsoukernik.
“That a charitable poker tournament could have such an impact is simply astonishing,” said Jack Effel, tournament director at the WSOP.
“Since 2012, through15 tournaments and player donations, over 12,000 individuals have contributed to raising over $20 million for the cause of access to safe water. This has had an incredible impact on the lives of over 170,000 people in need. Both from the poker and humanitarian aspects, the whole poker community and us at WSOP are lucky to be a part of this.”
The Big One for One Drop will be televised by ESPN2, and live streamed to viewers on PokerGo.