About this project

BRIEF SUMMARY

Every year, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held in Las Vegas. The series ends with the "Main Event": a $10K No-Limit Hold'em Championship full of bluffs, bad beats, and all-ins! Last year, the "Main Event" attracted nearly 6,500 entrants, and first place paid out $8.5M.

While attending the 2009 WSOP, Rafe Furst and Michael Karnjanaprakorn came up with a crazy idea. Michael will enter the 2010 WSOP Main Event and donate 100% of his possible winnings to charities, non-profit organizations and social ventures making the world a better place.

While the money would be a great surprise for any charity, the real goal is to encourage other poker players to donate at least 1% of the winnings to charity too. (In 2009, the WSOP awarded out over $175M in tournament winnings.) Who wouldn't pledge at least 1% if there was someone else pledging 100%?

In the lead up to the event, Michael will be coached by professional poker players Phil Ivey, Annie Duke, Rafe Furst, Andy Bloch, and Ali Nejad, maximizing his chances for impact. But like anything else in the poker world, there's always a catch.

The pro's challenged Michael to raise his $10K buy-in through Kickstarter to ensure that general awareness is raised about the project and charities, which is where all you awesome folks come in! If Michael fulfills his end, the professional poker players will donate a percentage of their winnings to charity too. Not a bad way to go all in!

MORE INFO

worldseriesofgood.com

The WSOG website will encourage other poker players to pledge a percentage (%) of their poker tournament winnings to a charity of their choice.

CHARITIES

Michael will be raising money for the following charities. Recently, the CFO of Langston Hughes Academy stole $675,000 from the school because of a gambling problem. Michael hopes to replenish the funds through the WSOG. He's also hoping to put a Bad Beat on Cancer through the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

Langston Hughes Academy
Our mission is to provide students with the knowledge, skills and character traits necessary to succeed in high school, college and the world beyond.
http://langstonhughes.nola180.org/

Prevent Cancer Foundation
Our mission is to advocate and support the prevention and early detection of cancer through research, education and community outreach to all populations, including children and the underserved.
http://www.preventcancer.org

charity: water
Our mission is to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of public donations directly fund water projects.
http://www.charitywater.org

If you'd like for Michael to consider your charity, please send a public tweet to @thewsog with a link to your charity.

FAQ

1. What happens if the full $10,000 isn't raised?
If I don't raise the full $10K, my backers don't pay anything. All the pledges are canceled. The project must be fully funded before its time expires or no money changes hands.

2. What happens if you lose before "making the money" in the Main Event? Do the charities benefit?
If I don't "make the money", none of the charities benefit. However, I am working on getting a sponsor to match my Kickstarter donations, so that $10K is donated to various charities. Also, my main goal is to encourage other poker players to pledge, so that charities will ultimately benefit.

3. Have you had a lot of tournament success? Have you played in the main event before?
I just recently placed 1st out of 1,338 people in the $32K guarantee Full Tilt Poker Tourney. I haven't played in the Main Event before, but I'm getting coached by some of the world's best poker players, so I think I have a higher chance of succeeding.

4. Why aren't you putting up your own money to play in the Main Event?
I will be playing in various WSOP events leading up to the Main Event (putting up my own money and donating a percentage to charity). I'll also be covering my hotel, travel, and Kickstarter fees which will come out to thousands to make this project happen. Not counting all of my time spent on putting the website together, garnering press, securing partnerships, etc.

5. How can I get involved?
You can donate to this Kickstarter project, or pledge a percentage of your poker tournament winnings on worldseriesofgood.com