Aug. 9 (Bloomberg) -- David Einhorn, founder of $3 billion hedge fund Greenlight Capital LLC, was knocked out of the World Series of Poker last night, taking 18th place and winning $659,730, which he plans to donate to charity.

The 37-year-old trader wore his lucky blue sweatshirt covered with paint handprints of his wife and three kids in the ``No Limit Texas Hold'em'' tournament, which began last week in Las Vegas with 8,773 contestants. He was briefly in second place this week after taking a $7 million pot. His winnings will go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

``I didn't have any expectation that I'd be in the final 27 players,'' said Einhorn of his first World Series of Poker appearance. ``I wanted to play well, and I was hoping to get lucky and have a good time.''

Einhorn is better known for betting on stocks. He opened New York-based Greenlight, an equity hedge fund, in May 1996, and has posted average annual returns of 29 percent a year since. Hedge funds are private investments that cater to rich people and institutions.

He started playing poker a few years ago, after his mother gave him a book for his birthday written by Michael Konig, who recounted his experience in the World Series of Poker. Konig was a neighbor of Einhorn's and used to baby sit him as a child in Milwaukee.

His interest piqued, Einhorn read more books, started playing with friends and entered charity events, including a poker game hosted by hedge-fund manager Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies Corp. that raises money for Simon's nonprofit organization Math for America.

Beating Ken Griffin

Einhorn came in fifth last year in the event, beating fellow hedge-fund managers including Ken Griffin, head of the $12 billion Citadel Investment Group in Chicago.

His desire to support research for Parkinson's came after he watched his grandfather suffer from the disease.

``Contributing his winnings is great and a statement that he believes in what the foundation is doing,'' said Curtis Schenker, chief executive officer of New York-based Scoggin Capital Management LP, who sits on the board of the Michael J. Fox foundation and invited Einhorn to become a director last year.

The win is impressive for a non-professional, poker experts said.

``Eighteenth is better than any of the big-name TV pros,'' said John Wenzel, editor of Poker Pro Magazine in Boca Raton, Florida. ``No Limit Texas Hold'Em is the chess of poker. You have to be willing to take a risk, so people who are high-risk Wall Street players are particularly well-suited for it.''

Einhorn also sees similarities between playing poker and picking stocks.

``The idea in both is to patiently look around for very favorable opportunities, to manage your risk and to try to take advantage of favorable risk-reward bets.''

The poker world series finishes Thursday. Jamie Gold, a former Hollywood talent agent whose clients included James Gandolfini of ``the Sopranos,'' is in first place with $25.65 million in chips.

To contact the reporter on this story: Katherine Burton in New York at kburton@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 9, 2006 17:16 EDT