Pro Poker Player Liv Boeree to Donate $560,000 Winnings to Anti-Factory Farming Cause

In December, British poker player Liv Boeree (pictured) finished fourth in the World Series of Poker Paradise Main Event, cashing out for $2.8 million.

The long-time poker pro was on a years-long hiatus before returning to the felt in the Bahamas. But she outlasted 1,974 of the world’s best and most experienced poker players in the $25,000 buy-in tournament to take fourth place.

It was the biggest cash of her career, the biggest cash of any female player, and brought her total winnings to $6.67 million. Which is good for fourth place on the all-time women’s money list. 

That’s a “shit ton of money,” as Boeree called it herself after the event. But what to do with it? Well, Boeree has decided to donate 20% of the winnings – $560,000 – toward fighting against animal factory farming in America. This week, she detailed her decision in a Substack blog post. 

The Record Cash

Before hitting the felt in the Bahamas, Boeree had played tournament poker only very occasionally for nearly five years. Her last tournament cash was at a $5,000 buy-in tournament at WSOP 2022, where she finished 60th for $8,843. 

Coming back to poker, Boeree said she had barely studied the latest updates and trends in Game Theory Optimal poker – the largely computer-decided “solved” poker strategy that a majority of high-level poker players favor. 

Instead, she played on what mathematically minded poker players of today might call “vibes.” And it worked out for her. With some prescient folds, some well read all-ins, and of course, a little bit of luck, Boeree outlasted some of the top money list poker players of all-time to hit fourth place and a record payout for a woman poker player. 

“So what the ‘f’ happened?!,” Boeree wrote in her blog post. 

“Well, it definitely wasn’t down to practice or study: I’ve only played a handful of times in the past five years, and my brain was comically slow at the mental calculations I could once do with ease. But perhaps this lack of prep was exactly what was needed, because I felt finally free to play my preferred game: intuitive, playful, and unpredictable.”

The Donation

Boeree also said she felt her pretournament decision to donate 20% of any winnings to charity also helped. 

“When in the shower trying to get myself psyched to play, I made an out-loud pledge to the universe to donate 20% of whatever I win to improve the conditions of factory farmed animals,” Boeree wrote. 

“And then I score the biggest win of my life, translating to $560,000 to this cause.”

She said she hadn’t quite decided exactly to what charity she would be donating, but told her fans she would keep them posted. This isn’t Boeree’s first venture into the world of charity and philanthropy.

After winning the $10,000 Tag Team Tournament at WSOP 2017 alongside her long-time partner, Igor Kurganov, the pair donated 50% of their $137,000 winnings to charity. 

That year, the pair were also briefly catapulted into the international spotlight outside of poker. After Boeree’s close friend, musician Grimes, introduced the couple to her partner, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man took a shine to their charitable activities. 

He went so far as to employ Kurganov as a key advisor on philanthropic causes after discussing the philosophy of effective altruism. 

But Kurganov’s Russian links and his gambler’s attitude saw him clash with other key members of Musk’s staff, and he was dismissed. 

That didn’t seem to end what is at least a cordial relationship between Musk and Boeree. The multibillionaire recently took to his own social media platform X to post congratulations to her after her recent big cash.