Many people see poker as a very selfish game, where all the players are motivated solely by greed, but as we all know this is very far from the truth and successful poker players all around the world help out charities and good causes every year. The Miriam Foundation Montreal Open, a charity poker tournament, is an example of this and Full Tilt Poker has announced that they are giving you the chance to compete against famous faces and do you part to help out, by hosting satellite tournaments to the event.

The Miriam Foundation is a charitable organization that was founded with the goal of enriching “the lives of people with intellectual disabilities or autism.” Serving the community for over forty years, the foundation operates under the premise that, “Every person deserves a nurturing home, supportive family, social connections, recreational activities and the opportunity to realize his or her unique potential.” They raise money in a variety of different ways such as poker tournaments, golf tournaments, bridge tournaments and through other events.

Full Tilt Poker is hosting satellite tournaments to the Miriam Foundation Montreal Open, one of the aforementioned methods of fundraising. A satellite tournament is almost identical to any other poker tournament, except that the prize pool is not paid out in cash, rather the money from everybody’s tournament buy-ins go towards a ticket – or tickets – to another, more expensive tournament. Satellite tournaments are generally quite cheap, and provide an excellent way for skilled players on limited budgets to gain entry into larger tournaments.

The Montreal Open is, of course, the tournament in question. It is Canada’s largest televised charity poker tournament. The open will commence at the end of March, and play down until 30 players remain, who will then reconvene in Las Vegas where they will continue to play on television. Up for grabs is over $250,000 in prizes, among them entry into the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event, so as well as helping out a good cause there are many other reasons to take part!

Every Wednesday at 20:15 ET and Sunday at 16:15 ET, Full Tilt Poker will host Qualifier Tournaments to the Montreal Open, with a buy-in of $50+$5. If that sounds too expensive for you then you’ll be pleased to hear that entry into these Qualifier Tournaments can also be procured via smaller satellites, with buy-ins starting at $3.00 +$0.30. This is an awesome way to help give as much as you can to charity and also potentially win some great prizes along the way. Thanks to the awesome satellite tournaments hosted at Full Tilt Poker, nobody has an excuse to not take part.