Betting on Poker to Change the World

When people think of industries that are diligently trying to save the world, gambling doesn't jump to the top of most lists. But with a new campaign called "World Series of Good," All Day Buffet founder and poker-master-in-training Mike Karnjanaprakorn is planning to change all of that.

In some ways, poker has a natural affinity with entrepreneurship. Both are, at their core, games of calculated risk. Success involves not just being dealt the best hand, but maneuvering most successfully with that hand. Things can look up or come crashing at a moment's notice.

Perhaps unsurprisngly then, some of the most creative angel investing in the world is coming from poker players. Rafe Furst and Kim Scheinberg, the folks behind the two most talked about new investing models in the social space -- namely, Life Investments (Personal Investment Contracts) and the Presumed Abundance Fund -- are poker professionals and previous poker entrepreneurs.

The World Series of Poker is a series of event that is sort of like Mecca plus the Superbowl all at once for five-card studs. It is a series of tournaments held in Las Vegas each year that culminate in a $10,000-entry-fee main event. Last year, first place in the tournament paid out $8.5 million and more than $175 million was distributed overall.

It was at last year's event that Mike and Rafe began to think about how they could leverage that massive community for social change, and came up with the idea for a "World Series of Good." Their plan is simple and awesome:

1. Mike will enter the 2010 WSOP main event, and donate 100% of his winnings to charity. In the lead up to the event, he will be coached by professionals like Rafe, Annie Duke, and Ali Nejad, maximizing his chances for impact.

2. Mike and his crew will build media buzz, in order to accomplish the real goal which is get as many of the thousands of participants in WSOP2010 as possible to donate at least 1% of their winnings to charity.

3. In order to accomplish #2, Mike will be crowdsourcing the $10,000 entrance fee on Kickstarter. In just a day, he's had $325 pledged (including $20 from me), and is hopefully on his way to the full pot.

There are a couple things I love about this project. First, it takes money that was previously allocated just for "entertainment," and basically doubles its value by giving it a charitable purpose, as well. Second, it's an awesome example of someone recognizing a somewhat unique asset they have -- in this case, a knack for poker and access to the pros -- and harnessing it for good. Third, it's a total community affair, from the pros who will be training Mike to the emphasis on getting the whole community of WSOP participants to join the fun.

The real question now is who should Mike donate too? If you want to have a say in that, get on over to his Kickstarter page and help be a part of poker history.

Photo credit: Mike Karnjanaprakorn