Poker Pro's $21,000 Donation Brings Xmas Cheer To Homeless
December 28, 2009 9:51 amFormer golfer and online poker player Dusty Schmidt, has hit the headlines a few times this year, first with his attempt to overturn the U.S. Golf Association (USGA) decision to revoke his amateur status as a result of a poker prop bet. And most recently with the release of his new poker book ‘Treat Your Poker Like a Business’ in which he provides insights into how to emulate his success and become an online poker pro.
His latest venture saw Dusty donate 30 hours of his online poker time to raise money for Transition Projects, an agency that helps homeless people seeking housing. The result was an impressive $21,000 contribution to the charity and enough to keep three homeless people accommodated and taken care of for 6 months.
“I decided to do it shortly after my daughter was born. I felt the more difficult it was to go out and play on the streets, the more a statement it might make,” said Schmidt who spent half his time playing out in the open at at Southwest Washington Street and Park Avenue.
Dusty Schmidt said he felt an empathy towards the charitable institution as he had also faced the possibility of homelessness, after a heart attack five years ago left him with unpaid medical bills, dwindling disability cheques and an increasingly hard to find monthly rent. Schmidt said he had played some poker before, and so decided to extracate himself from his financial problems by throwing his time and efforts into online poker. After 400 hours, he had made $7,000 profit and hasn’t had to look back since.
Commenting on the online pros generous donation, Doreen Binder the executive director of Transition Projects said, “It’s extremely moving to see somebody who’s come to an understanding or a realization that there are people in need. He is donating money with the faith that this will change somebody’s life.”