What would you do with $12 million, the amount the new World Series of Poker’s $10,000 buy-in Texas No-Limit Hold’em champion will collect?
Build a mansion?
Buy a yacht?
Take a trip around the world?
Amateuer David Einhorn, who sits in third place among the 27 men who will play Tuesday at Harrah’s Rio Hotel and Casino for a seat at Thursday’s Final Table of nine, knows exactly what he’d do with every penny of it.
He’d give it away.
An amateur who lives in Rye, N.Y., and is a hedge fund manager for an investment firm, Einhorn is seeking good karma rather than the gold, though Gold coincidentally happens to be the last name of the event’s current chip leader, so technically he’s after that also.
Einhorn stunned observers Monday when he revealed he was playing for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and would donate his winnings, whatever they may be, to the organization founded by the well-known actor who suffers from the disease.
Einhorn told reporters his motivation was a grandfather, who dealt with the effects of Parkinson’s for years and eventually died as a result of it.
“So I decided, heck, let’s just play this tournament for charity and see how it goes,” Einhorn told Card Player magazine.
He presently sits on the Foundation’s board of directors and is known around his hometown for charitable endeavors.
Einhorn, whose generosity assures him of widespread crowd support, once paid $200,000 to have lunch with investment banker Warren Buffet.
The money aided a San Francisco church that helps the poor and homeless.
Einhorn can be spotted at the tables wearing an old blue new york mets hoodie covered with the handprints of his wife and three children.
“You need good hands in poker and I have good hands,” Einhorn said of what he calls his good luck charm.
He was one of two stories emanating from Day 6 of the extended WSOP, the other being Malibu TV producer Jamie Gold, who has compiled an impressive stack of 13 million chips and led the tournament the last few days.
Separating the two players in second place is Sweden’s Eric Friberg, who hails from Stockholm.
He has 7,735,000 chips compared to Einhorn’s 6,905,000.
Rounding out the Top 5 are Rhett Butler with 6,400,000 and Dan Nasif with 5,430,000.
They are among the 27 players from the 45 who started the day who will be vying for the coveted nine Final Table slots.
The leading 12 finishers are guaranteed at least $1 million each, with 13th, 14th and 15th-place participants receiving slightly more than $900,000 apiece.
The event drew 8,773 players, creating, as Mike Sexton would say, a monster pot of $82,512,162.
The tournament paid 873 places.
Among those still in contention are Allen Cunningham, a double gold bracelet winner who is in 12th place with 2,650,000 chips, and Jeffrey Lisandro in ninth with 3,750,000.
Humberto Brenes, one of the game’s few stars to advance to Day 6, busted out in 36th.
He pocketed $329,865.
Monday’s action was in direct contrast to the long days and nights usually associated with poker; play ended in about six hours.
No-Limit events continued in another part of the Rio’s mammoth Amazon Room.
Paul Kobel, a long-haired, bearded gentleman from Oakland, Calif, claimed his first gold bracelet on Monday.
He won a $1,500 buy-in event that attracted 1,007 players who built a $1,374,555 pot.
Kobel, who defeated Tyler Andrews in heads-up play, earning $316,144.
write by Jena