[grandgnu]

From the link on her blog to the story:

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Liz Lieu, a very tough, high-stakes cash game player who only recently began playing tournaments, had played 20 hands heads-up with Jason Heidema, a designer for eBay.in the 16th event of LAPC, $1,000 limit hold'em. Lieu had him crippled at one point, but then he won about 10 hands in a row. Earlier, a three-way deal had been made where Heidema was to get $45,013 to $37,453 for Lieu and $23,466 for Jack Boghossian. They agreed to play for $10,000 and the trophy, and Lieu announced she would donate 20 percent of her winnings to charity if she won the tournament. Now, to make sure that the promised money did go to charity mostly to multiple sclerosis, the remainder to Vietnam aid she offered to let Heidema take $7,000 of the $10,000 if she could have the win and trophy that went with it, or play on, and he took the deal. Lieu, who basically plays $400-$800 hold'em, entered her first tournaments at the 2005 World Series and had two cashes. The majority of her charity donation, she said, would go for multiple sclerosis, the remainder to help 'my country' (Vietnam).

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So, by making this deal she agrees to give 20% of her winnings, which are around 40K. So that's 8K. So she gets 3K of that payment from the deal, so it cost her 5K (potentially) to get the win and the bracelet.

Anyone who doesn't think that the potential publicity and sponsorship deals she can gain from a first place and donating to charity isn't worth 5K obviously isn't considering this seriously.

Hell, she'd probably give up the entire 40K for that type of publicity, considering the limits and games she plays.