Online Poker Players Help The Homeless

12/23/09 –  The Portland Mercury blog carries an interesting video interview with a local online poker player with a heart of gold this week – he uses a significant chunk of his online winnings to prepay six months of rent for currently homeless families. 

Dusty ‘Leatherass' Schmidt (28) is a well known high stakes grinder (and a mean golfer to boot) who was one of the early PokerStars Supernova Elites and is an instructor at StoxPoker. His bread and butter poker comes from middle stakes cash games in 5/10 and 10/20 with some 25/50 and very occasionally 50/100 action when the games are good.
 
Interviewed in a local park, where he used his laptop to play several online poker tables simultaneously, Schmidt explaining that he became obsessed with Internet poker after a heart attack four years ago left him bedridden for months.
 
Overcome with medical bills, Schmidt bet his last $1 000 on a hand and won back not only enough money to cover his bills, but enough to make a good living, too.
 
He told the Portland Mercury reporter that in the last three years, he has made over $1 million a year on Internet poker (and won an Aston Martin).
 
This (December) month, he decided to donate all of his December winnings to Transitions Project, a Portland homeless non-profit organisation. With the $20 000 he has won so far, Schmidt plans to help support three families by prepaying their rent.