Pokerstars shows signs of humanity

I have been reading alot of posts lately about Pokerstars newest promotion Ocean's Thirteen Darfur Charity Tournament. I know , I know another promotion by another poker room.

Except this has really touched me, and given me a new perspective on this company. You hear all the time about film stars giving to charity benefits, companies sponsoring events but I have never heard of a poker room doing such a thing.

So today my task was to dig a little deeper into what kind of organizations Pokerstars supports, and I was blown away to say the least. Here is a huge multi billion dollar online gaming company who continually makes an effort to support local and international benefits.

Needless to say sometimes I am out of the loop as to promotions, I play my favourite games and that is about it but this just caught my attention and through some leg work I found multiple events.

Did you know that Pokerstars hosted a memorial fundraiser for the victims of the tragic Virginia Tech? It was a $20 buyin with 0.01 going to the prize pool and the rest of the fund were being donated to VT, not to mention that Poker stars matched all proceeds.

They also did the same thing for the victims of the Tsunami and again for Hurricane Katrina relief, all to the Red Cross.

This year they were the main sponsor for the 2007 Life Ball Charity Event held in Vienna, which is an event to help fight AIDS. If Pokerstars is going to be a sponsor you can sure as hell bet that they are going to be making a huge contribution ...and they did just that. They set up an amazing promo where they hosted freerolls. For every player who registered for this tournament Pokerstars.com donated $1 on top of the already $100, 000. But it doesn't stop there they also held a $5 +$10 charity tournament where $5 went to the prize pool and the other $10 went as a donation where than Poker Stars matched everyone's $10 donation.

Now they are helping the people of Dafur who are stricken by terrible living conditions in their war torn region. It's an absolute tragedy and this is one site that I give huge amounts of respect for taking action. They have donated over $1 Million dollars to help with the situation and teamed up with the casts of Ocean's Thirteen (George Clooney, Matt Damon etcc) to bring recognition to the devastation that has imploded these people.

I am not writing this to promote Pokerstars or I would have done so while they had there tournaments going on. I am writing this to show people that an online poker room can have an impact on humanity, and they should be applauded for doing so.

If you have not heard about the horrible events taking place in Dafur than I will briefly explain why this is such an urgency. The conflict began in the arid and impoverished region early in 2003 after a rebel group began attacking government targets, saying the region was being neglected by Khartoum.

The rebels say the government is oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs. Over the years the rebel groups moved into villages in protest of the government and slaughtered anyone and everyone including children, raped women and stole whatever their hands could touch.

The government is being blamed however they lay the blame on others and remove themselves from any implications of wrong doings. The citizens are greatly affected by this and millions have fled in search of safety, but fleeing has only left them with very little water, food or even medicine for those who are sick. They have sought refuge in camps and are fearful of even leaving these camps in search of food or water due to killings that take place just out side of them.

Researchers and aid workers have a hard time reaching these people due to the fighting, but an estimation has pout the death toll above 400,000.

This is what Pokerstars is about, trying to help in the best way possible and I ask you to do the same. I am not going to post a link to Pokerstars...you know where it is if you need it so it's not necessary.

What I am asking you is to donate, even if it's $5 to help this cause. If you want to donate direct to the charity it couldn't’t be easier. To transfer funds simply go to the main lobby in your Pokerstars.com account, then to Requests, and drop down to Transfer Funds. Type in the User ID NOOW and the amount you wish to donate. The funds will then be taken from your account and credited to the charity. All money will go directly to the charity and PokerStars will match all funds donated!

Or you can go to this website here http://www.savedarfur.org/content. Either way it is a well worthwhile cause that needs attention now. Pokerstars has said they will hold another event such as this in the near future. Dates have not been confirmed as of yet.

I would like to say thank you to those at Pokerstars for taking a stance and trying to make our world better for both us and our future children. You have shown compassion and empathy to others when it is most needed and I hope people recognize you with your humanitarian efforts.