Poker player Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt, known for his spat against the United States Golf Association (USGA), played 30 hours of online poker in Portland, donating $21,000 to Transition Projects as part of “Playing it Forward.”
According to The Oregonian, the proceeds will fund six months’ worth of rent, basic supplies, and even furniture for three homeless people in the Portland area. He dragged his arsenal of laptops outside in the cold for a portion of his campaign, attracting the attention of passersby and the media alike. Schmidt told Poker News Daily, “The idea was to play for 30 or 40 hours. A lot also depended on how I was doing. I went out there four times and didn’t get to play for more than a few hours each day because the batteries on my computers drained. I ended up bringing a few laptops as a result.”
Ground zero for Schmidt was O’Bryant Square at Southwest Washington Street and Park Avenue, where he noted that, due to the cold, his computer batteries did not hold up. On the first day, he was at empty within a few hours. On the second day, Schmidt said he was able to play for five hours. Despite the elements, Schmidt told Poker News Daily that he was happy to give back to the community: “I do quite a bit of philanthropic stuff in Portland. This was the first one where it made sense to draw a little bit of attention to it.”
The Oregonian explained the origins of Schmidt’s Playing it Forward campaign: “The 2000 movie ‘Pay it Forward,’ in which a boy comes up with the idea to do something kind to three people, who each have to pay forward the favor to another three people, had always stuck in his head.” The poker player and golfer told us that he’s received more than 100 e-mails in recent days during the holiday season from people who have paid it forward to others. Schmidt relayed, “I know there could have potentially been thousands of people affected.”
Another inspiration for Playing it Forward was Schmidt’s daughter, Lennon, named after Beatles great John Lennon. Schmidt told Poker News Daily what the correlation was between the rock legend and helping those in need as the calendar year ticks over to 2010: “John Lennon was a lot of the inspiration for me doing this. If John Lennon were a poker player, I could see him doing something like playing in the streets.”
As it stands, Schmidt lost his amateur status after a prop bet involving poker and golf landed him in hot water with the USGA. He’ll be eligible to return in mid-2010 and, in the meantime, has ramped up his poker game. Despite his lofty goals, several comments left on The Oregonian’s website were critical of Schmidt’s efforts. One poster, “cheez_wiz,” noted, “That’s nice of him but isn’t online poker illegal?” Others critiqued the charity that benefited from Schmidt’s efforts: “Giving money to TPI, Inc. is like throwing it away. Not one homeless person will ever see one penny of that money.”
The $1 million prop bet consisted of 72 holes of golf plus 10 heads-up poker matches. In July, the U.S. District Court in Portland heard his appeal after Schmidt lost his amateur status. No one took Schmidt up on his challenge, but he promptly dropped his lawsuit. According to Schmidt, a judge “equated it to a church excommunicating a member unfairly and there not necessarily being a legal remedy under which a judge can force the church to reinstate that member.”
According to the USGA’s website, actions that would cause amateur golfers to become professionals include “accepting the position of a professional golfer,” receiving services from an agent, entering into a sponsorship agreement, and “agreeing to accept payment or compensation, directly or indirectly, for allowing his name or likeness as a player of golf skill or reputation to be used for any commercial purpose.” USGA rules specifically forbid certain forms of gambling and golfers are advised to consult with the organization for clarification.
