To the victor go the spoils…

The historic $1 million buy-in “All In For One Drop” poker event hosted by the World Series of Poker (WSOP) will award the winner with $18.3 million and a specially-designed WSOP platinum bracelet created by renowned watchmaker Richard Mille.  The poker tournament is being held at the Rio and commences today, July 1, concluding on July 3rd.   There are 48 players (full list below) who came up with $1 million each to battle it out in this three-day charity event created by Guy Laliberté, Founder of Cirque du Soleil.  As reported by the The Wall Street Journal, (Full House: $1 Million Hold ‘Em Ante, June 29, 2012), due to the unprecedented buy-in — the highest in the history of poker — many player’s are financed by wealthy investors or teams of backers.  Read on for more….

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Big One for One Drop:  Platinum Winner’s Bracelet, by Richard Mille

platinum case/bracelet, double-sapphire crystal design with 0.78 carat pear shaped diamon

Event creator Guy Laliberté, the tournament’s first entrant, infused a charity component into the event which very likely helped him pull it off — 11.1 percent of all buy-ins go to One Drop charity (see “Did You Know” below).  The total prize pool is a whopping $42,666,672.   The winner’s take of $18,346,673 will break the previous record held by Jamie Gold who won $12 million at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Two sapphire crystals are superimposed in the heart of a case to give enhanced depth: a pear-shaped diamond of 0.78K is set in the first sapphire crystal and placed on the logo of the One Drop Foundation.

Guy Laliberté (5th from left), Chair of ONE DROP and Founder of Cirque du Soleil

The official entrant list (below)

included are 25 professional poker players, 4 CEOs, 7 professional investors (traders/hedge fund managers/asset managers/private equity/venture capital), a car dealer

1. Bobby Baldwin Chief Design & Construction Officer, MGM Resorts International Age: 62
2. Frederic Banjout CEO, Eden Shoes, Paris, France Age: 42
3. Bob Bright CEO, Bright Trading, LLC, Las Vegas, NV Age: 72
4. Ilya Bulchev Businessman, Moscow, Russia Age: 55
5. Roland De Wolfe Professional Poker Player, London, England Age: 27
6. Tom Dwan Professional Poker Player, Edison, NJ, USA Age: 25
7. Jonathan Duhamel Professional Poker Player, Montreal, QC, Canada Age: 24
8. David Einhorn U.S. Hedge Fund Manager, Rye, New York Age: 43
9. Antonio Esfandiari Professional Poker Player, Las Vegas, NV. Age: 33
10. Phil Galfond Professional Poker Player, Potomac, Maryland Age: 27
11. Bertrand Grospellier  Professional Poker Player, France Age: 31
12. Philipp Gruissem Professional Poker Player, Germany Age: 25
13. Giovanni Guarascio Businessman, Montreal, Canada Age: 55
14. Phil Ivey Professional Poker Player, Las Vegas, NV. Age: 36
15. Eugene Katchalov Professional Poker Player, New York, NY Age: 31
16. Cary Katz CEO, College Loan Corporation, Las Vegas, NV. Age: 41
17. Jens Kyllönen Professional Poker Player, Finland Age: 22
18. Guy Laliberté Founder, Cirque de Soleil, Montreal, QC, Canada Age: 52
19. Ben Lamb Professional Poker Player, Las Vegas, NV. Age: 27
20. Tom Marchese Professional Poker Player, Parsippanny, NJ Age: 24
21. Jason Mercier Professional Poker Player, Davie, FL. Age: 25
22. Michael Mizrachi Professional Poker Player, Miami, FL. Age: 31
23. John Morgan CEO, Winmark Corporation, Minneapolis, MN Age: 71
24. Daniel Negreanu Professional Poker Player, Las Vegas, NV. Age: 37
25. Paul Newey Chairman, New Wave Ventures, Dorset, United Kingdom Age: 43
26. Chamath Palihapitiya Venture Capitalist, Burlingame, CA. Age: 35
27. Bill Perkins Owner, Small Ventures (Private Equity), Houston, TX. Age: 43
28. Paul Phua Asian Businessman, Miri, Malaysia Age: 48
29. Brian Rast Professional Poker Player, Las Vegas, NV. Age: 30
30. Vivek Rajkumar Professional Poker Player, Las Vegas, NV. Age: 26
31. Tobias Reinkemeier Professional Poker Player, Brighton, Germany Age: 24
32. Andrew Robl Professional Poker Player, Las Vegas, NV. Age: 25
33. Phil Ruffin Owner, Treasure Island Resort, Las Vegas, NV. Age: 76
34. Rick Salomon Film Producer, Los Angeles, CA.  Age: 44
35. Nick Schulman Professional Poker Player, Manhattan, NY. Age: 27
36. Noah Schwartz Professional Poker Player, Miami, FL. Age: 28
37. Erik Seidel Professional Poker Player, Las Vegas, NV. Age: 52
38. Mike Sexton Professional Poker Player, Las Vegas, NV. Age: 64
39. Dan Shak Founder, SHK Asset Management, Philadelphia, PA Age: 53
40.  Talal Shakerchi European Hedge Fund Manager, Surrey, England Age: 48
41. Mikhail Smirnov Businessman/Poker Player, Moscow, Russia Age: 39
42. Justin Smith Professional Poker Player, Los Angeles, CA. Age: 24
43. Brandon Steven Businessman/Car Dealer Owner, Wichita, KS. Age: 38
44. Sam Trickett Professional Poker Player, East Retford, England Age: 25
45. Haralabos Voulgaris  Professional Sports Handicapper, Winnipeg, Canada Age: 37
46. Richard Yong Asian Businessman, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Age: 54
47. Satellite Winner $25,300 Mega Satellite – June 30 at Rio (name) TBD Age: TBD
48. Satellite Winner MGM Resorts International June 30 VIP winner (name TBD) Age: TBD

Did You Know?

ONE DROP —an initiative of Guy Laliberté, Founder of Cirque du Soleil® — is an international non-governmental organization established in Canada, in 2007. ONE DROP fights poverty by supporting access to water and raising individual and community awareness of the need to mobilize so that safe water is accessible to all, in sufficient quantity, today and tomorrow. With its uniquely artistic approach, ONE DROP educates and implements site-specific safe water solutions while allocating microfinance loans to help ensure sustainable development. Worldwide, ONE DROP’s ongoing creative projects also raise awareness about water-related issues and encourage smarter water practices. In the U.S., ONE DROP is a public charity that undertakes innovative activities in which water plays a central role as a creative force to generate positive, sustainable change worldwide. To learn more, visit ONEDROP.org