Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov Auction WSOP Bracelet for Charity

On June 2 nd Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov won their first WSOP bracelets in the $10,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold'em event at the beginning of this year’s World Series of Poker after defeating over 100 teams. Boeree later on stated, in reference to how it felt to play along Kurganov, that "I couldn't imagine it being any easier". The couple, which has been dating for some years now, split the earnings of $273,964 but will donate part of it to charity. REG, Raise for Effective Giving [3], a project they have co-founded along with other poker pros like Philipp Gruissem, will benefit from this large contribution which is now even bigger as on July 9 they opened an auction with a bracelet donated by WSOP.

REG is a fundraising non profit charity that seeks to reduce suffering in the developing world, protect animals, help alleviate poverty and prevent risks derived from emerging technologies. Its members have pledged to donate a percentage of their incomes to selected charities, like GiveDirectly, The Humane League or The Against Malaria Foundation among others. Kurganov and Boeree founded it in 2014. The latter, whose first name is Olivia (“Liv), was the winner of the European Poker tour in 2010 and she started playing poker when she was selected as one of five contestants for a reality TV show. Part of the program included learning to play poker like a pro [4] and she was coached by the best, including Phil Hellmuth and Dave Ulliott. She has gone a long way since then and is now among the top players in the world, proving her skills in the most recent WSOP at the aforementioned tag team event.

The current bid for the bracelet, which is on eBay [5], is of US $6,400.00 (the opening bid was $2,000) and they expect it to go higher until its closing date, July 20. This is not the first time that a WSOP bracelet is auctioned for charity, as back in 2010 Peter Eastgate sold his for $140,000 to Scottish entrepreneur William Haughey – founder of City Refrigeration - who has been known to destine large sums of money (as high as six millions) to sustainable and charitable projects that he believes in. Auctioning bracelets for good causes seems to be a trend and earlier on this year, Italian poker pro Max Pescatori also put out one of his for bidding to support the victims of an earthquake that took place in the city of Amatrice. Hopefully, Liv and Igor’s auction will continue to encourage other players to contribute with their earnings to charitable causes such as those promoted by REG.

Skilled and with a philanthropist spirit, British player Liv Boeree (who is also a TV presenter) is undoubtedly a poker pro to look up to. As for her boyfriend, Igor Kurganov, he is also great at the felt and the Saint Petersburg born player has finished last on several tables, making large sums that put him on the spotlight at Aussie Millions in 2013 [6]. This couple’s triumph at the $10,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold'em was well deserved and we will have to keep an eye on them as they continue to play hand by hand.