Three Most Inspiring Cases of Charity from Poker Players

For players just coming in, the poker community can seem full of cheap drama, agitated players and silly trash talking. But among all these things, the poker world still has a golden soul with a passion for charity.

In this article, we’ve given you three examples of poker goodness, kindness and generosity.

“Campaign to Stack K.L.” by Veronica Brill

In 2020, television presenter, commentator and recreational poker player Veronica Brill shouted out to the poker community to find its heart and help one of its members —  Kenneth L. Cleeton who lives with Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

She started a campaign to raise money for a special $75,000 Chevy Traverse van. This would give Kleeton a chance to participate in live poker events more often and with much more comfort. 

Charity streams and active social worked like a charm: Veronica reached the goal with $53K donated from all parts of the community on GoFundMe and $25K on top directly from Bill Perkins. In June 2021, K.L. finally presented his new van — which you can see proudly presented on his X page (ex. Twitter) below:

https://x.com/highhands89/status/1408213603472314376

One of the biggest donors was Johnny “VIBES” Moreno who chose a creative path to support Veronica and Kenneth. Moreno created a sub-campaign where he promised to donate $5 for every retweet of his original tweet. After 18 hours of retweeting he stopped the counter and donated $10,000.

His effort was admired by K.L. who later says in an interview:

“There are two cash game players — I’ve never spoken to them, but they dropped five grand each. Everyone was very generous with their time and with their platforms. […] Johnny [Moreno] made a massive donation. But he used his platform too. It takes a lot when you’re a public person to put your name on something.“

Lex Veldhuis’ Charity Campaign About Dementia

In August 2019, PokerStars ambassador and poker super-star Lex Veldhuis lost his 68-years-old dad who was suffering from Lewy body dementia.

This neurological disease is the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, leading to problems with thinking, behavior, movement and mood disorders which worsen over time.

Because of his father’s illness, Lex recognized the importance of educating people about different types of dementia:

“My dad passed away last August due to this horrible disease. While talking to people I’ve noticed that most people put different kinds of Alzheimer or dementia under the same umbrella.

Unfortunately through my personal experience I have learned that this is not the case. Every form of Alzheimer has its own symptoms and effects on people. Lewy body dementia is such a vicious disease that not many people know of. I was hoping through my charity run to not only raise money, but also awareness.”

In partnership with PokerStars, Lex organized a charity stream where people could donate money to The Lewy Body Society. He himself donated all of his profits from streamed poker tournaments, while PokerStars added all the rake from a special $215 EPT Online Cup.

In the end of the day, they cumulatively send to charity $82,500. Lex reported this result with pride:

“I’m so happy people came together and donated so much. Not only did we smash the money goal (I put the original goal at $5000), we also had some good feedback on the awareness part. I’ve received dozens of messages from people who had a relative suffering from LBD, but had no idea the disease entailed everything it does.

On top of that we’ve had dozens of people who were more actively trying to get their parents to a neurologist, because they’re showing symptoms of some neurological problems. Things like forgetfulness, not handling technology as well as they used to, or just having issues with sight and seeing depth/detail. All we have is time, and time is so valuable. I wish we found out what my dad was suffering from earlier, so that we could have had some more years together. I hope through this, other people will have the fortune of having just that“.

Help Bob Stay in the Game With a New Hip

On May 3rd, 2024 poker industry veteran Jesse Fullen published a plea on X (ex. Twitter) to help tournament director Bob Smith:

https://x.com/jessefullen/status/1786469887143227555

In the comments Jesse also added:

“The biggest issue was both getting bills approved and also getting them done timely. Bob needs to work the WSOP and Medicaid/Insurance say they want to help him with his needs but not timely like he needs. They were saying August/Sept earliest.“

Bob’s other friend Sarah Sherman started a campaign on GoFundMe with a $25,000 goal. It was reached after only 3.5 hours. After a day campaign hits the score of $35,000 from more than 170 people and continues to grow further. The biggest donation, $10,000 was sent by Barry Woods.

Bob was so smashed by the community’s generosity that he recorded a touching video with reaction — while you can watch it in full on his X (ex. Twitter) the gist of it is:

“Today I was overwhelmed. It was incredible. I thank each and every one of you. I can’t say enough about how the poker community takes care of me.“

The operation was done on May 9th and Bob reported its results and the first post surgery day on X as well. Up to May 25th, he also began walking with a cane.