The online poker community has come together to raise more than $1.5 million for the relief effort in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, according to the Poker Players Alliance.

PPA Chairman Alfonse D'Amato congratulated PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Cake Poker in particular for "providing poker players across the globe and easy way to make a contribution."

"The generosity online poker players are showing makes me even more proud to be part of this community, D'Amato said.

According to the PPA, more than 50,000 players donated to the relief fund for a total of around $760,000. And with the promise from the websites to match each dollar donated, that brings the total raised by the online poker community to more than $1.5 million.

All three sites set up special pages for their players to donate to the Haiti relief effort, while Full Tilt and Cake Poker also hosted tournaments in which registration fees were donated directly to certain charities working in Haiti.

The money raised is all the more timely given that bad news continues to be reported from the tiny Caribbean island. An estimated 200,000 people died in the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit on January 12, with 170,000 people already confirmed dead, according to President Rene Preval.

More than 1.2 million people are believed to have been left homeless, and once the more immediate relief efforts are finished, the daunting task of reconstructing Haiti will begin.