Published on May 12, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 12, 2010
CONTACT:
Tracey Young
(703) 837-3687
tracey.young@preventcancer.org
ALEXANDRIA, VA — Professional poker player Andy Bloch and entrepreneur Michael Karnjanaprakorn have upped the ante on how much they plan to donate to charity. Karnjanaprakorn has launched the World Series of Good, an initiative that encourages poker players to contribute to charitable causes, pledging 100 percent of his winnings from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) to selected charities, including the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s Bad Beat on Cancer ™ (BBOC). Additionally, Bloch has vowed to pledge 25 percent of his winnings.
“I have long supported Bad Beat on Cancer, and when I heard about the World Series of Good project, I thought it was a great idea,” said Bloch. “I hope my pledge costs me two million dollars.”
Bad Beat on Cancer was founded in 2003 by Prevent Cancer Foundation board members and professional poker players Rafe Furst and Phil Gordon. It has raised more than $3.2 million to further the Foundation’s mission of the prevention and early detection of cancer through research, education and community outreach. BBOC is supported by poker players who donate a minimum of 1 percent of their winnings from tournament events such as the World Series of Poker.
“The Prevent Cancer Foundation is humbled and honored by Karnjanaprakorn and Bloch’s generous donations,” said Jan Bresch Mahrer, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the Foundation. “The Foundation has a long-standing relationship with the poker community and as Bad Beat on Cancer enters its seventh year, we look forward to extending that relationship even further.”
Poker players who are interested in pledging their winnings to Bad Beat on Cancer can go to the BBOC web page at www.preventcancer.org/donate3c.aspx?id=2136.
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About The Prevent Cancer Foundation
The Prevent Cancer Foundation was started in 1985. Today, it is one of the nation’s leading health organizations and has catapulted cancer prevention to prominence. Through healthy lifestyle choices, you can reduce your risk of breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, oral, prostate, skin and testicular cancers. Since its inception the Prevent Cancer Foundation has provided more than $113 million in support of cancer prevention and early detection research, education and community outreach programs across the country. The Foundation’s peer-reviewed grants have been awarded to nearly 400 scientists from more than 150 of the leading academic medical centers nationwide. This research has been pivotal in developing a body of knowledge that is the basis for important cancer prevention and early detection strategies. For more information, please visit www.preventcancer.org.
