New Online Charity Marketplace Offers Real-Life Experiences with Poker Stars
How would you like start your day with a poker lesson from legendary Phil Hellmuth, continue with a heads-up match against PokerStars Pro and EPT champion Liv Boeree, and then get some rest enjoying the best of Las Vegas' clubbing scene with Antonio Esfandiari?
Although it may not be for everyone, an amazing day like this one can finally be a reality thanks to IfOnly, the brand new online charitable marketplace created by San Francisco-based Traina Interactive Corp.. The vision is to "to enable rare experiences and connections benefitting worthy causes."
"There are so many stores where you can buy things, but people don't want to buy things, people want 'experiences,'" IfOnly CEO Trevor Taina told Bloomberg in a recent interview. "So I thought, why not build a store that sells experiences rather than things? And well, if we can also do some charity at the same time – even better."
"Right now we give to charity 70 cents for every dollar we take – and that's great,” Taina continued.
With a whole section of its marketplace dedicated to poker, IfOnly tries to bring some of the most famous icons of the game close to their fans and combine this with some fundraising for several different charity organizations.
On June 4, Phil Hellmuth tweeted about his involvement with IfOnly and explained that he would be happy to meet companies and fans for giving them a motivational speech or play some poker.
I'm happy to give your company a motivational speech, a meet and greet, or book an event with me: http://t.co/a1iL8XDYZk
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth)
With his participation to the service, Hellmuth joined a prestigious lineup of professional poker players already on IfOnly which includes the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Phil Laak, Jamie Gold, Liv Boeree and Antonio Esfandiari.
The experiences available on the site include one-on-one meetings with Phil Hellmuth at the Rio Casino during the World Series of Poker ($16,700), a two-hour private poker lesson with 2006 WSOP champion Jamie Gold for up to six people ($2,780 each) or a memorable night out in Las Vegas with "the king of clubs" Antonio Esfandiari for $5,970.
Among the other non-poker related experiences available on the site, an intriguing card counting course with legendary blackjack player Jeff Ma ($6,000), a tennis weekend for three in Las Vegas to play with Andre Agassi and Stephanie Graf or a Golf Clinic with Golf Digest Top50 instructor Phil Rodgers for $5,000.
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