How tweets turned Ultimate Poker’s demise into funds for charity

By J.D. Morris

Friday, Dec. 26, 2014 | 2 a.m.

It all started with a tweet.

About one month ago, Las Vegas-based poker journalist Marco Valerio received a message from Ultimate Poker, the online poker website that recently shut down. They were cashing out his outstanding balance of just $0.18.

Valerio found the paltry cashout amusing. So he shared it with his 7,000 Twitter followers.

When he realized others were getting similar messages, however, he had a thought: What if they pooled the tiny amounts together and donated the total to charity? It might not be much, but it could make a small difference in the lives of some.

Then professional poker player Danielle Andersen chimed in. She agreed to match donations up to $500.

Andersen had a personal connection to the cause — she was a sponsored player for Ultimate Poker.

“It felt sort of like a parting gift from me,” she said in an interview.

And so what’s now called the Simple Act of Poker Kindness, tracked by the Twitter hashtag #SAPK, began to snowball.

Andersen described it as an organic movement that evolved primarily through social media.

“There was no real advertising; we did no real media push,” she said. “It’s not like we had a team of people putting this together. It just kind of caught on.”

Like Andersen, others in the poker community began to throw in their support on Twitter, with some committing to more than just a small check from Ultimate Poker.

Poker player Melissa Burr was one of those. She said she’d donate $1 — and then raised it to $2 — for everyone who retweeted her announcement.

Valerio agreed to gather donations through PayPal. It far surpassed his original expectations.

What Valerio and others in the poker community did is not unique to #SAPK. During the social media fundraising blitz, Valerio found out that New Jersey poker player Billy Vogel had been gathering holiday donations from poker players for five years.

Valerio decided that some of the money raised through #SAPK would go to help Vogel’s efforts, though much of it would remain earmarked for a local Las Vegas organization. #SAPK, in turn, got a mention and a logo at the toy drive Vogel helped with in Atlantic County, NJ.

In the end, #SAPK raised about $3,360. Valerio said about $2,560 went to St. Jude’s Ranch for Children in Boulder City and the rest to Global Medical Relief Fund, an organization Vogel supports through his fundraising.

Valerio indicated that he’s open to doing the fundraiser again in the future.

“I’m very moved, actually, by the demonstrations of kindness and benevolence that I saw from so many of these individuals,” he said. “We’ve tapped into a giving spirit. I think that the social media engine we’ve uncovered that can power contributions is one worth looking into.”

He also emphasized how he hoped the fundraiser would counteract negative perceptions about poker players, who aren’t always seen as the giving type.

Andersen echoed that sentiment.

“We get kind of a bad rap for being gamblers or whatever, but I would actually say the poker community in general has some of the most generous and honorable people you would find in your entire life,” she said.