Monday 9th July 2007 Ante Up Poker Event Brings Out The Stars
More than a dozen Hollywood celebrities and sports legends including Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Ray Romano, Ben Affleck, Brad Garret and Martin Sheen joined poker professionals such as Jennifer Harman, Doyle Brunson and Annie Duke to raise public awareness about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
The Ante Up For Africa special 300-seat tournament at the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was the brainchild of Academy Award nominee Cheadle and poker ace Duke and was held Thursday in the tournament area of the Rio All-Suite Hotel And Casino in Las Vegas.
The $5,000 No Limit Hold’em buy-in tournament was open to anyone with players also eligible to attend a private party at the Rio’s Voodoo Lounge after playing had finished. The tournament featured a fast-paced structure designed to complete the competition within five hours and players were asked to donate half of their winnings to the Enough project and the International Rescue Committee. Both groups educate and influence policymakers about the Darfur crisis and provide assistance to the people affected.
“Over the last four years, fighting in the Darfur region of Western Sudan has left 200,000 dead and driven another 2.5 million people from their homes,” said Cheadle.
“Now, having survived violence, atrocities and abductions, they are living in squalor in refugee camps in Chad and Sudan. The situation is definitely grim but there is some good news. The world is finally starting to pay attention, in no small part due to concerned citizens who are ratcheting up the heat on political leaders and demanding an end to the violence.”
Source: OnlineCasinoNews
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