Tournament coverage Poker

One move, three gains

Written by Yuci Tai

PokerStars LIVE Macau, located at City of Dreams, runs a HK$2,000 Deepstack tournament every Saturday, but last Saturday’s tournament was a bit different as they ran a charity event in support of ANIMA. For those who don’t know, ANIMA is an organization focused on animal protection in Macau.

With HK$200 from the initial HK$2,000 buy-in and HK$500 from each HK$2,000 re-buy going to charity, the tournament prize pool was HK$56,142 and ultimately Hong Kong’s Raiden Kan emerged victorious to take home the HK$19,942 first prize. Kan is no stranger to success, having won the 2012 Macau Poker Cup where he beat a 308-player to claim a HK$1,250,000 payday. While last week’s win was tiny by comparison, Kan was proud to have added another trophy to the cabinet while the tournament as a whole was played in great spirit and enjoyed by all.

I also represented World Gaming magazine in this charity event to show our support. PokerStars Director of Live Poker Operations in Asia-Pacific, Danny McDonagh, told me, “A major reason for the individual tournament was to create greater awareness around ANIMA, not only in the venue on the day but via social networks.”

Senior Marketing & Business Development Manager at PokerStars LIVE Macau, Fred Leung, said they help many local charities, but this was the first time for ANIMA and they are certainly looking forward to continued support for this worthy cause.

Fred also said, “PokerStars LIVE Macau will be making a substantial donation which is much larger than just this tournament. It will be announced during MPC20 (the Macau Poker Cup) which runs from 10 to 21 January 2014.

PokerStars LIVE Macau should be commended for this move, which contributes to the community and also presents a positive image for PokerStars. Let’s face it, it’s not often that even the losing players graciously smiled and say “Take it as donations!”

One move, three gains. Why not!?