Charity Begins at Home

The ‘home’ in this case being a Twitch TV ‘streamhouse’ in Montreal shared by poker pros Jaime Staples, Matt Staples, Jeff Gross and Kevin Martin – and the charity being the Michael Phelps Foundation, to which the $21,000 winnings from the players 168-hour poker marathon was pledged!

The StreamHouse Charity Marathon saw thousands of viewers tune in to follow and support the guys as they took shifts streaming 168 straight hours of poker – each player spending six hours trying to win as much money for the charity as possible.

Along the way they kept viewers entertained with a steady diet of great poker, valuable insights, viewer vote-ins and a host of other fun tweets and posts to keep the selfless show running smoothly.

Jamie Staples, aka pokerstaples on the Twitch TV network, kicked off the marathon pokerfest and raised some $815 in his first shift, and added more when donations came in for a vote whether to wake him up or let him sleep after his hard work!

#SHMarathon $100 donations = waking up pokerstaples but this one is close. Vote now! https://t.co/MlWUhsAF0x

— Jeff Gross (@JeffGrossPoker) October 10, 2016

The charity on the receiving end of the poker-playing efforts – the Michael Phelps Foundation – promotes ‘water safety, healthy living and the pursuit of dreams’ and was the brainchild of multiple US Olympic medal winner Michael Phelps, who states on his charity’s website:

"Swimming provided the opportunity to stay healthy while I learned about hard work, determination, and setting goals. I’m proud to say these principles guided me through my career and are the foundation to our im program.”

The $21,000 which the ‘streamhouse’ contributed this past week will help Phelps to continue his great work, and is yet another example of poker players – and fans – digging deep to help those less fortunate.

Last week also saw the Big One for One Drop Invitational, the Guy Laliberte-organised $1million buy-in event for super-high rolling amateurs - from which $111,111 of each entry fee was pledged to the One Drop Foundation which aims to provide clean drinking water to millions of less-fortunate people in the third world.

Recently Vanessa Selbst held another of her Urban Justice Center charity events which raises money to help New York City’s most vulnerable people gain access to sometimes life-saving legal services.

Selbst roped in Daniel Negreanu to help host the ‘Blinds and Justice’ poker event, and the Canadian said:

"Poker has become the most popular way to raise money for charity events globally. It’s great to see so many poker players finding ways to contribute to society in a meaningful way.”

Back in the ‘streamhouse’ the players reached the end of their marathon efforts $21k up – and the success of the endeavor seems sure to set in motion a new and frankly exciting way for poker to help others.