The popular PokerMatch is to host a charity tournament with all proceeds going to the humanitarian effort in Ukraine.
The firm, ran by Viktor Kirichenko, was one of the first to be handed a gambling operator’s licence in the country back in 2021, and they are keen to repay that faith by raising funds for their fellow Ukrainians.
So they have set up the Victory Cup, which will take place on March 20 and cost around £5 to enter. All proceeds raised will be transferred directly to the National Bank of Ukraine, and you can find out more details by accessing the PokerMatch website.
A statement from the platform reads:
“From the first days, our team was busy providing safety for their relatives, their families and then joined in taking other colleagues and families out of dangerous and hot places.
“Even though Ukrainians (and our PokerMatch team) are scattered all over Ukraine and the world, they want to do everything in their power to raise both attention and money for the people who suffered, and continue to suffer, in this war.”
Parimatch, who acquired PokerMatch in December and who have halted their sponsorship of the Roman Abramovich owned Chelsea FC, have also donated $2 million to the humanitarian effort.
Good People
The world of poker has made huge moves to help Ukrainians impacted by the invasion of their country by Russia.
Eugene Katchalov, the former PokerStars ambassador with nearly $10 million in career earnings to his name, was trapped in Kiev when the fighting broke out. He has since evacuated the city and been offered a temporary place to stay by King’s Resort owner Leon Tsoukernik.
Update ? on where I am and where many of my wife’s friends and family and so many others that have reached out to us have now settled thanks to the incredible generosity of one man – Leon Tsoukernik of @PokerroomKings …
— Eugene Katchalov (@EugeneKatchalov) March 13, 2022
Tsoukernik has gone on to rent a number of hotel rooms in the Czech Republic, offering refuge and meals to around 500 refugees from Ukraine.
Katchalov has since given an interview to The Mirror newspaper, confirming that he and his family are safe in Budapest.
“Obviously the pressure was building, but up until the very end neither I nor any of my friends nor anyone I really knew actually thought a full on invasion would happen as is happening now,” he said.
“When you’re driving and seeing a mass of bombs go off in the distance and military airplanes and helicopters flying overhead, it’s extremely unnerving.”
The Ukrainian has since set up an emergency response fund, and has been working hard to reunite refugees with their families in more than 16 different countries.
Another poker impresario that has extended the hand of friendship is Tony Guoga. The man better known as Tony G, a 15-time money finisher in the World Series of Poker, opened the doors of his ‘TonyResort’ in Lithuania, taking in more than 70 refugees that had fled from the country.
In these hard and uncertain times you have to share flashes of positivity. Today, TonyResort is temporarily accommodating more than 70 people who have escaped from the war in Ukraine, most of them children. Fleeing the war, families also rescued their pets. #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/ySAhvKPtKX
— Tony G (@TonyGuoga) March 9, 2022