The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital emerged as the major beneficiary from the Twitch $100K Poker Charity Invitational event this past weekend.
The chosen charity for the winners of both days of the event was St. Jude. Consequently, the event raised up to $85,000 for the cause.
The MGM-operated ARIA Resort and Casino in Las Vegas hosted the Twitch $100K Poker Charity Invitational on November 17 and 18.
Nine popular streamers from Twitch, a well-known live streaming platform, vied for a $110,000 prize to donate to their chosen charities. The top four competitors on November 17 divided $100,000 among them. Furthermore, on November 18, there was an event where the winner’s chosen charity received the entire $10,000 prize.
Poker player and streamer, Jeff Gross, along with poker commentator, David Tuchman, delivered commentary for the event on a Twitch livestream. The event was also broadcast on Jason Somerville’s Twitch channel with a 30-minute delay. Additionally, other streamers showcased the event on their respective channels.
Twitch Hearthstone streamer ‘itsHafu’ wins big
Rumay “itsHafu” Wang, a Hearthstone Arena streamer, emerged as the winner of the initial tournament. She donated the first-place prize of $50,000 to St. Jude.
Byron “Reckful” Bernstein, a World of Warcraft streamer, also donated his second-place prize of $25,000 to St. Jude.
Meanwhile, in real life, streamer PMSProxy secured the third position and won $15,000, while poker player and streamer Somerville came in fourth, winning $10,000.
Somerville gave his winnings to the Raising For Effective Giving Charity, which focuses on donating to other charities that offer the maximum impact for each dollar donated.
IRL Twitch streamer Mitch Jones gets winner-take-all
On Nov. 18, In Real Life streamer Mitch Jones emerged victoriously from the $10,000 winner-take-all tournament. He graciously donated the entire prize money to St. Jude. Jones triumphed over fellow In Real Life streamer and ex-MTV star, Andy Milonakis, in a head-to-head challenge. In the tournament’s standings, Somerville claimed third place.
Poker player and streamer Lex Veldhuis, Counterstrike streamer Craig “Onscreen” Shannon, and In Real Life streamer Timmac also competed in the events.
St. Jude is a prominent children’s hospital that is leading the way in research and treatment for children suffering from cancer and other severe illnesses.
Initially, Twitch executives stated the event was designed to spotlight Twitch poker and aid charitable causes. Furthermore, the event was intended to increase awareness for poker on Twitch and generate funds for worthy causes.
The player line-up was curated, focusing on streamers with large audiences. Furthermore, they sought players who possessed entertaining personalities and had poker playing experience.
PokerGo co-sponsors
The event was co-sponsored by PokerGo, a poker streaming subscription service.
PokerGo routinely broadcasts live games from ARIA’s tournaments, including the yearly Super High Roller Bowl with a $300,000 prize and the regular ARIA high roller series. Furthermore, the first-ever Poker Masters high roller series was hosted at the Nevada casino earlier this year and was streamed on PokerGo.
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