Guyanese philanthropist and Team PokerStars Pro, Victor Ramdin scored a huge cash windfall of US$500,000 ($100M) after a win at The Big Event Main Event in Los Angeles this week, according to Pokerstars.net.
The online report said that an incredible performance saw him maintain a huge chip lead for much of the multi-day tournament. The report said that it was a long-overdue return to the limelight for the talented Ramdin.
A life of fast cars and huge mansions often follows for many big winners, but the site said there’s a unique bunch of poker pros that decide to put their money to more worthy causes and Ramdin is one such player.
Ramdin, according to the site, 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, became good at it and then entered the professional circuit. The report said that he started pulling in impressive results from 2003 onwards.
The report said that his 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 (US) $1,331,889, signalling 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.”
The 417-strong field was filled with major-name pros, according to the report, but it said that Ramdin held his nerve and won.
Bestpokersites.org noted that this tournament was Ramdin’s second win in 2011 –he took down the US$1,500 NLHE tournament at the PCA in January—and this puts his lifetime tournament earnings at US$3.3 million. It said that Ramdin dominated the tournament from about Day 2 on, almost always occupying the #1 or #2 spot on the leader-board.
It said Ramdin donates at least 25% of his tournament winnings to Guyanese charities, and often goes above and beyond this amount.
Onlinepoker.net said that after his victory, Ramdin posted on his Twitter account:
“Yippee its finally over thanks for all your support I beat world champion Joe Hachem [my buddy] to win 5k event at the bike.”
