Pro Gamer Rumay Wang Wins First Twitch $100,000 Charity Poker Event  

Hearthstone pro Rumay Wang wins the first Twitch $100K charity poker event featuring gamers and pros. (Image: sportskeeda.com)

Poker pros and Twitch gamers came together recently in a bid to raise $100,000 for charity and provide some crossover entertainment for fans from both communities.

Thanks to the ever-increasing number of links between gaming and poker, live streaming platform Twitch made the move to stream a unique charity event on November 17 and 18.

Titled the Twitch Poker Charity Invitational, the event was designed to raise money for a variety of organizations, including REG, Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders and St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Gamers Take Control as Poker Pros Fall

With players on both sides of the gaming divide looking to have some fun and show their skills, the single table tournaments soon became a matter of pride as much as charity. When the action got underway inside the Aria, Las Vegas, poker pros Jason Somerville and Lex Veldhuis were the favorites to win.

But as the chips started to fly, that dynamic soon changed. In the first single table tournament, Veldhuis wasn’t able to make it into the money, which left Somerville as the lone defender of the poker community’s honor.

Like a true pro, Somerville took his beating with good grace and will now ship his $10,000 prize to REG charity. Talking after his elimination, Somerville said that it was a fun experience and something he’d like to see become a tradition between the gaming and poker communities.

With the final poker pro out of the game, Katie Rage aka PMSProxy went on to finish in third and raise $15,000 for Doctors Without Borders, while Rumay Wang aka itsHafu went on to beat Bernstein into second.

More Misery for Poker’s Finest

Thanks to a high octane, high energy first session, Twitch’s broadcast partner Poker Go gave the green light for another tournament. Getting underway on November 18 and offering a $10,000 winner-takes-all prize, the second tournament saw the poker pros fall short once again as Mitch Jones and Andy Milonakis bulldozed their way to the final showdown.

In typically talkative fashion, the two pros shared some back-and-forth banter before Jones sealed the deal with Doyle Brunson’s famous 10-2. After calling a raise from Milonakis, Jones check called his way to an all-in with the board showing 2 2 10 A.

With the pocket eights of Milonakis needed a two-outer on the river to reverse the outcome, both players gave each other a quick embrace before the dealer burned and turned the final card. As the 6 fell, thousands watched as Jones scooped $10,000 for and St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Since the charity event came to a close, recordings of the action have been viewed more than 20,000 times. That figure is on top of the 23,000+ that watched live, which means the charities and poker as a game received some great exposure on one of the world’s leading streaming sites.

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