Prominent female poker players Angela Jordison and Jacki Burkhart have announced a giveaway designed to send several service veterans to the World Series of Poker this summer to participate in the WSOP's support-benefiting "Salute to Warriors" event.
Jordison, the recent winner of a Global Poker Award as 2022's breakout poker player, announced the giveaway on Twitter earlier today. The pair hope to award at least five seat packages to the event, including travel, hotel, and of course, the buy-in for the tournament.
Later on, Burkhart and Jordison announced that due to enthusiastic responses to the Salute to Warriors giveaway, the pair had quickly launched a GoFundMe initiative as well, with the hopes of being able to send more veterans to play in the event than initially planned. Jordison's and Burkhart's GoFundMe page can be found here. The GoFundMe campaign neared its initial $10,000 goal in less than half a day after being launched.
Jordison also stated that additional details on the giveaway would be announced at some point in the coming days. Among other items, she and Burkhart want to ensure that the seat packages go to players whose military service can be verified. While those details have yet to be finalized, Jordison announced the first winner to be selected in Ryan Mitchell, a veteran from Waterloo, Iowa, pictured above with Burkhart and Jordison.
PokerOrg reached out to both Jordison and Burkhart for additional comment about what provided the impetus for the giveaway, which reprises a similar three-seat giveaway that Burkhart initiated in 2019. "My dad was a Vietnam veteran," said Jordison. "He was one of the old guys that would wear a Army hat everyday." Jordison's moving tribute to her father at this month's GPA ceremony was one of the most touching moments of the annual gala.
The initial 2019 seat giveaway began with Burkhart, then grew from there. As she told PokerOrg, "In 2019 I decided to send a veteran to this event. It was the first year the event was offered and I just knew I wanted to do it, as a thank-you to veterans. Once I posted on social media looking for a nominee, the community rallied and we ended up being able to send three veterans in 2019."
Burkhart added, "It was a very rewarding experience. I was at the tourney this weekend where Angela met Ryan Mitchell and once she told me his story, I said, 'Okay, I’m, in too. And let’s send more veterans!'"
Burkhart also has her own ties to the service community. Both of her grandfathers served in World War II, and more recently, her sister served four years as a translator in war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Featured image source: Twitter/Angela Jordison
