A Modest Proposal

[Cizzerhand]

Greetings All,

I hereby propose the creation of a not-for-profit Poker Players Trust whose members, should anyone besides myself decide this a worthy of pursuit, distribute the poker profits derived from one pre-selected hour-long session per month to a list of acceptable charities.

I have particular interest in helping children’s charities, including those listed below, although am not adverse to any effort to assist other equally deserving constituencies.

Newborns in Need
Share our Strength
SOS Children’s Villages
Reach Out and Read
Youth Law Center
I Have a Dream Foundation
Doctors of the World
Project Linus
Parents as Teachers
National Children’s Home (UK)
Autism Society of America
Blind Children’s Fund
Books for the Barrios
Camp Heartland Project
CASA (Court Appointed Advocates for Abused Children
Children Awaiting Parents

There are others of course, and I certainly have not analyzed the above enough to determine their suitability. Ultimately, the decisions as to which efforts would receive Trust-donated funds would be through Trust member consensus.

I have been playing for a few years now and although I am not a big hitter, I do relatively well at my regular hangout (2/4 Party) on a part time basis. My day job is intense and doesn’t leave large block of time for poker but I do manage roughly 5K hands per month. If my hour went according to my established average, I am looking at a $38.40 contribution.

I haven’t been involved in any charitable efforts since my NY days on the Charitable Contributions Committee at a previous employer and thought that this would be a great idea; honestly, who among us can’t donate a couple hundred hands to a worthy cause once a month?

If anyone is interested in pursuing this concept, please feel free to say so here and/or PM me. I haven’t fleshed out the details; although it’s a pretty simple concept and certainly the finer mechanisms could be decided upon by the group.

Thanks and Good Luck,

Cizzer


PS-- If something like this already exists among folks here, I apologize for not doing a more thorough search for evidence of it's prior existence.

[CallMeIshmael]

This is an awesome idea!

I should be good for 70-80 at the end of the month.

[XXXNoahXXX]

[ QUOTE ]
Greetings All,

I hereby propose the creation of a not-for-profit Poker Players Trust whose members, should anyone besides myself decide this a worthy of pursuit, distribute the poker profits derived from one pre-selected hour-long session per month to a list of acceptable charities.

[/ QUOTE ]

And if I lose during that hour will the charity cut me a check???

Seriously though, sounds like a great idea.

[Redd]

I think this is a good idea. I just wondered if anyone else noticed the absolute irony in naming this post after an essay that is in favor of eating babies? Was that intentional satire of satire?

[Cizzerhand]

Hey Ishmael, your enthusiasm is welcome.

Noah, good question. I thought of that and just envisioned, no profits for that hour, no contribution for that month, no big deal. If members wished to devise some alternate methodology I am sure it would be equitable.

Redd, your perceptive qualities are, no doubt, a great skill at the tables.


I am not sure if "good idea" means you guys want to be involved or prefer to abstain, either way, thanks your responses.

[Vroomster]

Wow. I did not even notice the allusion to that great essay. I'm assuming that if the author was knowledgable enough to refer to that essay, he was knowledgable about its content. However, he might not be trying to create satire of his own, and instead is just referring to it to add an extra line of interest to the topic. Nice catch on the reference.

This idea is definitely one of the best, but why set out 1 hour specifically aside for it. I mean, overall, if you set aside a specific hour, over a couple years, your avg. will coem out to your true earnings. Instead, why not just figure out your avg. earnings, and give 1 hour's worth of winnings.

[jman220]

[ QUOTE ]
I think this is a good idea. I just wondered if anyone else noticed the absolute irony in naming this post after an essay that is in favor of eating babies? Was that intentional satire of satire?

[/ QUOTE ]

Could you post a link to this essay? I've heard of it.

[Cosimo]

[ QUOTE ]
Could you post a link to this essay? I've heard of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

www.google.com (http://www.google.com), or for the truly lazy (http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html) I copied the first link that google popped up. Saved you some typing that way.

[Grisgra]

As long as the caretaker is reputable . . . sign me up.

I suppose I should just start contributing on my own until this thing starts up, of course . . .

[Cizzerhand]

Vroom, no this is not satire, LOL. Just attempting a clever and catchy thread title.

My thought was that a monthly one-hour donation was more interesting and compelling than just stuffing some bills into an envelope. For just that one hour, you're playing for the benefit of someone else, someone relatively helpless and in an unfortunate situation. Sure it may come up less than your regular win rate, but the flipside holds true as well. So I guess that's the reason. Maybe the average win rate could serve as a default in the event a member comes up empty and still wants to contribute. Plus pro's could maybe squeeze in an extra hour of play, thus their contribution would not dilute their income as much and making it easier to participate.

jman and cosimo, seeing as how you didn't address the substance of the post, I'll assume your presence is transient. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I am trying to keep track of those who would like to pursue this.

Grisgra, thanks. I will serve as the administrator initially but more from an organizational role. I prefer that the actual caretaker for the contributions be decided at the group's suggestion.

Thus far, counting "good idea" as a proxy for "yes I am interested", I see 6 of us. A very nice start.

[Doc7]

I'd love to do this but I'm only a .05/.10 and I'd spend more on a stamp than the money in the check : /

When I move up limits count me in!

[jtr]

I have faith in you, Doc.

To the OP: an extremely nice idea. No offence, but how will you keep contributors confident that it's not a scam?

Personally I feel that donations to charity are a moral duty that should best be carried out quietly, but if this idea gets people to donate more than they otherwise would to worthy causes then that's great.

[Surfbullet]

This sounds exciting - we could all pick a charity (red cross tsunami relief? surfaid is a good one too) - perhaps picking one that has an online facility so we each could deposit our 1hrs worth ourself and post it as an aggregate...I'd prefer to not just send someone a neteller transfer, but to rather send it to the charity directly.

I'm definitely down though. If this doesn't happen I'll do it on my own.

Great idea - I'm definitely bummed, though, because I expected hilarity from a title that refers to jonathon swift's satirical work.

Surf

[Cizzerhand]

Doc, thanks for the enthusiasm; we'll be around when you are ready I'm sure.

jtr, that's a valid concern and I'm not sure how it can be resolved. Any suggestions? I agree wholeheartedly with the second half of your response; be assured that the intention here is compassion, not recognition.

Surfbullit, that's a good idea. I wonder how many charities are set up for that.

[Sixth_Rule]

Thats the first thing i noticed

[ QUOTE ]
I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection.

I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.



[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Those who are more thrifty (as I must confess the times require) may flay the carcass; the skin of which artificially dressed will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen.



[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
...and butchers we may be assured will not be wanting; although I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife, as we do roasting pigs.


[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Supposing that one thousand families in this city, would be constant customers for infants flesh, besides others who might have it at merry meetings, particularly at weddings and christenings,

[/ QUOTE ]

[XXXNoahXXX]

[ QUOTE ]
Personally I feel that donations to charity are a moral duty that should best be carried out quietly

[/ QUOTE ]

What I've been praciticing for the past few months is coming up with a percentage and at the end of every week or MTT finish, I contribute that % to charity. If I have a break even or down week, I just don't comtribute anything. I don't go to church, I just consider this a tithe to humanity, and pick a new charity every week. Im a 100NL and STT player, so I'm not going to be getting any buildings named after me. I think of it this way, I play online, so whatever I would be tipping a dealer at a B+M, I set aside for charity. Also, by being constantly aware of those less fortunate than us, I feel like it actually makes me a better poker player by avoiding tilt. I mean, when you know that last week you sent money to a charity because there are millions of women and children starving in Africa, it makes losing 5 buyins seem pretty trivial in comparison. I know it seems a bit movie-of-the-week, but we bitch and moan about bad beats and being dealt bad cards while some people were born in to circumstances we can only imagine. By keeping charity in the back of your mind, and keeping things in perspective, it will not only allow you to help out your fellow man, but also become a better poker player.

[CallMeIshmael]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd prefer to not just send someone a neteller transfer, but to rather send it to the charity directly.

[/ QUOTE ]

I dont think I would be willing to do anything but send this to the charity directly.

[Cizzerhand]

Agreed, Ishmael. Check your PMs you'll find the following:

....
Based on Surfbullet’s suggestion, I did a little cursory research on the Charities that I am interested in and found that roughly 50% of them allow for online donations, usually in the form of a credit card payment. I would think that the same percentage would hold for organizations that you would like to support as well.

I am not sure if credit card/debit card is the ideal method for most of you; while Neteller direct would be optimal, it is primarily a gambler’s platform and well, no charities obviously accept it. Hopefully this is fine since it eliminates the need for one of us to be collector and dispenser of the contibutions.
.....

[GuyOnTilt]

[ QUOTE ]
There are others of course, and I certainly have not analyzed the above enough to determine their suitability.

[/ QUOTE ]

A lot of charities care about taking care of those in charge of the charity moreso than being charitable. Or at least that's how it would seem from their expense breakdowns. Not that you have to, but I check out organizations before I donate to them and personally only give to charitable charities. I don't know anything about most of the ones you listed, but a couple of them I know of as having very high administrative "costs" (I Have A Dream and Share Our Strength). I would encourage anyone participating in this, or even giving to charities in general, to look into who they donate to if they really care about where there money will actually go.

www.charitynavigator.org (http://www.charitynavigator.org)

GoT

[jason_t]

[ QUOTE ]
I think this is a good idea. I just wondered if anyone else noticed the absolute irony in naming this post after an essay that is in favor of eating babies? Was that intentional satire of satire?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think a lot of people aren't familiar with Swift's original and I've met a few that are but missed the point.

[peterchi]

If any people are feeling particularly masochistic and generous, we could do a 2+2 ADHOC DAY FOR CHARITY.

!!!

ehh??

...sorry i'm too fresh out of college and have memories of dance marathon and that sort of craziness...

seriously though, i think it would be cool if you did something like select a day in advance, start a thread here on that day so people select any hour out of the day, play their hour and post their hour-long results and selected charity on that thread. so it'd be like a big party kinda.

just a thought. it's not that i like to brag about my charity, but at the same time it's nice to have company while doing so.

[Cizzerhand]

Well it appears that the most folks are ambivalent to this idea, and those that are interested already give on their own which is great.

Thanks to all who responded favorably, and to those who have never considered giving, just remember when you're taking down that 20BB pot with your set of threes, there are millions of kids holding 72o, and for many it might be the best hand they ever get.

Good Luck,

Cizzer

[Guthrie]

Set up a monthly tournament on a receptive site.

Players pay the buy-in knowing they will never get it back.

Payouts from the final table are paid directly by the site to the charity of the winner's choice.

I think UltimatePoker are launching something similar.

Have a look at http://www.benefitpoker.org.