888poker Announces First-Ever Tournament for Non-Profit

A lot of people might take their daily access to a readily available cold drink of water for granted while others are far less fortunate. 888poker is teaming up with nonprofit organization One Drop for a tournament to remind everyone that over 2.1 billion people go without clean water across the globe every day.

The World Water Day Online Tournament will kick off on Thursday March 22 at 20:00 GMT coinciding with United Nations-sanctioned World Water Day. Players will have a unique opportunity to help raise funds and spread awareness while enjoying their favourite game in a freindly yet competitive environment.

One Drop Ready for First Online Poker Event

One Drop was founded in 2007 by Cirque du Soleil founder and longtime poker enthusiast Guy Lauliberte and since then has provided access to safe drinking water to over 1 million people in 11 countries. This will be the charity’s first ever online poker event and Senior Director of Special Initiatives Alexandre Meunier is looking forward to the opportunity to draw support for the cause.

“This will be One Drop’s first online poker tournament ever and we are confident that we have found another great ally in 888poker. We are excited with the idea of being able to reach out to their extensive community of online players to raise awareness and funds for critical water issues. We sincerely hope that this collaboration will be the first of many more to come.”

Tournament Affordable for Most Budgets

The tournament is open to any who are interested and costs a very affordable $11.11 to buy in. While there is $5,000 on the table in guaranteed prize money, all fees will go towards supporting One Drop. Accompanying the event will be a free prize draw in which players can win 888 related goodies.

Third and Fourth Prizes will be a laptop bag, notebook, winter hat and card set. Second prize will be all of that and a baseball cap and chip set while the grand prize will be all of the aforementioned prizes with an 888poker backpack. Although participants will need a funded account to participate in the World Water Day event they don’t have to actually be competitors in the event to participate in the prize draw.

Guy Cohen, SVP Head of B2C, 888 Holdings, believes the event is a great milestone for the company to reach as he feels it necessary for businesses to reach out to the global community they serve and go beyond providing the services they’re more well-known for to help the millions of less fortunate individuals lacking water around the world:

“Our new collaboration with One Drop is a great milestone for us here at 888poker. Supporting causes that improve the world we live in is an important part of our activities. We are excited to be able to offer our players the chance to contribute to those in need, along with exclusive access to the most sought-after events in the poker calendar.”

Past Successful Live Tournaments

While this will be One Drop’s inaugural internet tournament, the organization is no stranger to live poker events. In 2012 the organization partnered with the World Series of Poker and put on the first-ever $1 million buy-in event named the Big One for One Drop. Since then more events have popped up over the years as the Little One for One Drop and the One Drop High Roller tournaments also give poker aficionados a chance to make a difference.

Along with the announcement of the online tourney, it was announced that Dominik Nitsche, an 888 Poker ambassador and former One Drop High Roller Winner, will compete in the next $1 million Big One for One Drop this summer when it closes the World Series of Poker. Nitsche won $4 million in the first event and is ready to compete for big money again while all 48 competitors in the event will have their $111,111 entry fees donated to One Drop providing a whopping $5,333,328 in charity funds.