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Guyanese philanthropist wins big at L.A. poker event
Los Angeles, US – Team PokerStars Pro, Victor Ramdin, collected $500,000 after a win at The Big Event Main Event in Los Angeles last week, with an incredible performance that saw him maintain a huge chip lead for much of the multi-day tournament.
It was a long-overdue return to the limelight for the talented Ramdin, especially when one considers the great things he’s done with his major winnings in the past.
The pro poker circuit is jammed full of major live events, meaning life-changing sums of cash are now being won on a regular basis, and new millionaires are being created at a steady pace.
Victor Ramdin
A life of fast cars, luxury vacations and huge mansions often follows for many big winners, but there’s a unique bunch of poker pros who decide to put their money to more worthy causes, proving themselves to be great ambassadors for the game. Ramdin is one such player.
A native of Guyana, he moved to New York City and set up a successful business as the owner of a chain of stores. He started playing poker with friends in a local bar, got good, and realised he’d found his new passion. Before long he hit the pro circuit and started pulling in some impressive results from 2003 onwards.
Ramdin’s major breakthrough came when he won his first World Poker Tour (WPT) title at the Foxwoods Poker Classic in 2006. It was a massive victory worth $1,331,889, signaling Ramdin’s arrival at the top of the game. He’s continued to win since, and makes a point of donating generous portions of his poker earnings to charity, along with any precious spare time he gets. One charity he’s helped in particular is Guyana Watch, an outreach program that provides medical attention to poor children back home.
Of course, Ramdin isn’t the only pro player to give away some of his winnings to charity. Barry Greenstein is also known for his charitable efforts, and the reigning World Series of Poker Champion Jonathan Duhamel donated a chunk of his $8,944,310 Main Event winnings to a good cause.
The biggest names regularly play charity poker tournaments across the US and beyond, including star-studded events like Ante Up For Africa. It shows that poker players have big hearts, and are eager to give something back to the community. It remains to be seen if any of Ramdin’s latest big haul will go to charity, but it’s certainly an impressive win.
The 417-strong field was packed with major-name pros, and he still had to beat fellow Team PokerStars Pro and 2005 WSOP Champion Joe Hachem when play got to heads-up. Ramdin held his nerve and won, proving that, in poker, nice guys can finish first. (poker.foxsports.com)
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