Credit Crunch Not Enough To Stop Charity Poker Tournament

Poker tournament to raise money for charity

The world might be in the grip of a financial crisis, but that hasn't stopped around 300 finance executives from taking part in a poker fundraiser, it has been revealed.

Edmond Coku, who works for Lehman Brothers Holdings, was one of the people to have paid $250 for the privilege of playing poker in order to raise funds for StreetWise Partners, a charity which helps people find work, Bloomberg reports.

Other participants included employees of Goldman, Sachs & Co, Citigroup, Barclays, Credit Suisse and Lightyear Capital.

Close to $75,000 was raised in donations on the night, with a target of $1 million set for the campaign as a whole.

"People at a time like this want to help out,'' Allison Devore, StreetWise's executive director, told the news provider.

"It feels incredibly good when you're helping out."

The recent collapse of Lehman Brothers saw Barclays secure its US operations.

Meanwhile, Nomura Holdings is to acquire the firm's European, Asian-Pacific and Middle Eastern operations in a $2 billion deal.