By Cris Belkewitch
The Manhattan Automobile Company recently hosted the sixth annual Poker4Life charity tournament to benefit the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis.
Poker4Life invests in one key mantra: “The Positive Power of Poker.” Founded in 2005 by Ethan Ruby and Jeremy Schwartz, the charity and those it touches has grown tremendously. With that in mind they are indeed a charity of charities whose efforts stretch beyond the admirable Buoniconti Fund. Poker4Life was created with a vision to assist all charitable organizations in their individual fund raising efforts.
Some terrific celebrities came out, including Golden State Warriors star David Lee, former Knicks great Jon Starks and ex-WPT hostess Sabina Gadecki, to take a seat for charity. The tournament has grown in popularity so rapidly that the amount of entrants had to be capped at 281 players.
A combined total of $150,000 was raised for the Buoniconti Fund, which brings the total raised since the inaugural tournament six years ago to more than $1,000,000. To really understand just how huge that number is, you have to go back to the humble beginnings of this charity.
Ultimately it was David Ostrow who captured the title, but the night was about so much more than that.
“Any time anyone plays in a tournament in the United States and hopefully the world,” Ruby said, “I want there to be a registration category that says ‘Yes I donate.’ whether it be 1, 3, 5, 10 percent to the charity of my choice via Poker4Life. We want to be the charity face of poker.”
For more info or to make a donation visit Poker4Life.org. To learn more about the Buoniconti Fund go to TheBuonicontiFund.com.
