DOUGLAS, Isle of Man, Aug. 18, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dennis Phillips, the current 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event chip leader, will donate 1 percent of his tournament winnings to Prevent Cancer Foundation's "Bad Beat on Cancer" fundraiser after the Final Table event in November. PokerStars.net will match Phillips' donation to the Foundation dollar-for-dollar. As the first place payout is $9,119,517, the donation could tally $182,000 if Dennis takes the Main Event.
"I am thrilled to contribute a portion of my WSOP earnings to the Prevent Cancer Foundation," said Phillips. "Charity involvement has always been an important part of my life, and hopefully more poker players and final table participants with follow suit in upcoming poker circuits like the European Poker Tour and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure."
In addition to his involvement with the Prevent Cancer Foundation, Phillips is active with a number of multiple sclerosis charities- an effort he has been a part of since his brother was diagnosed with the disease. PokerStars also remains steadfast in its commitment to philanthropic endeavors. They recently donated $51,000 to the Kentucky Hemophilia Foundation and gave Donald Hobbs, a young man afflicted with the disease, a chance to play in the WSOP Main Event alongside his friend and poker idol, 2003 WSOP Champion and Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker.
"Dennis Phillips is a stand-up guy who brings a positive feeling to the WSOP final table," said Chris Moneymaker, 2003 WSOP Champion and Team PokerStars Pro. "Most guys get to the final table and just see a big pile of money and a new life. Dennis is just happy to be playing poker and sees an opportunity to help others. His efforts are inspiring to the poker community and I'm excited to see how it all turns out in November."
The Bad Beat on Cancer fundraiser started in 2003 as a drive to help fund cancer research and prevention. Organizers asked their friends in the poker community to pledge just 1 percent of their winnings at the WSOP Championship Event to Prevent Cancer Foundation (formerly The Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation) as a tax-deductible donation. Since 2003, the Bad Beat on Cancer initiative has grown to include other major poker tournaments, home games, leagues, and inspired some players to pledge for life. Phillips continues the tradition in 2008.
About PokerStars:
PokerStars (www.pokerstars.net) is not just the world's largest online poker room (with 14 million players worldwide) - it's also the world's leading poker tournament site. This makes PokerStars the premier destination for the world's top players - with over 100,000 tournaments running every day. PokerStars is world-renowned for offering the highest levels of security in the online poker world. To date, PokerStars has:
- Dealt over 19 billion hands
- Run more than 100 million poker tournaments
- Entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the first and only poker website to reach the 160,000 simultaneous players mark
PokerStars, the official sponsors of: The European Poker Tour (www.ept.com), The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PokerStars Caribbean Adventure), The Latin American Poker Tour (www.lapt.com), The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (www.appt.com) and The World Cup of Poker.
PokerStars is the home of Team PokerStars Pro, a group of 29 professional and up-and-coming players from around the world who play online at PokerStars and are sponsored by the site in international tournaments around the world. For more information please visit www.pokerstars.net
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