Badass Canadian Buddhist Poker Player Is Donating His $600,000 Pay Day To Charity
Scott Wellenbach is the man. No two ways about it, he’s the coolest dude in the world. He’s a Canadian Buddhist who plays poker for fun. And he plays it well too. He had some decent results here and there
but then, just this last week, he had his biggest score to date, finishing 3rd in the PCA Main Event for $671,240.
And yes, he plans to donate every cent (minus traveling expenses and the like) to charity.
BBC - The Canadian poker player came in third at a poker tournament in the Bahamas, taking away $671,240 (£518,868).
As usual, he is donating all his winnings to charity, earning him the nickname “the people’s hero”.
“Being a practitioner of Buddhism, we sit around and meditate a lot – and that’s free,” he told the BBC.
When he’s not buying in, Mr Wellenbach works as a translator of Tibetan and Sanskrit Buddhist texts for a religious non-profit.
“I suppose I rationalize it by giving my winnings to charity,” he said. He donates to several Buddhist charities, as well as Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders.
What a legend.
You have my word, if I ever make another dime in this game again, I’m putting it right into the Eric Nathan fund and nowhere else. Not because I don’t like charity, I love charity and donate all the time, but because Scott Wellenbach has donated enough for the both of us. As a fellow Buddhist, I believe me not donating is the yin to his yang. And that folks, is how you spinzone to perfection.