Ante Up For Africa A Huge Success

Written by Haylie | Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

The World Series of Poker at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas hosted the third annual Ante Up for Africa charity event on Thursday afternoon. Annie Duke and Don Cheadle created this tournament which provides aid and assistance to the survivors of the crisis in Darfur.

A-list celebrities and the top poker players alike were at this event. Celebrities that were at this red carpet event were Charles Barkley, Hershel Walker, Cedric the Entertainer, Dean Cain, Monetel Williams, Sarah Silverman, Jason Alexander, Brad Garrett, Jennifer Tilly, Cheadle and Duke, just to name a few. Phil Hellmuth, Barry Greenstein, Andy Bloch, and Peter Eastgate were some of the poker players that were there. The biggest of all of the celebrities that were there was Ben Affleck and Matt Damon but Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight champion, also got a lot of attention though he was rather reluctant to receive it.

ESPN was broadcasting this event for the first time ever which added to the craziness, as chaos broke out when the players were trying making their way to the tables. The fans were causing a huge ruckus just trying to get people out of the way in order to see all of the celebs that were there.

The tournament was a $5,000 buy-in with more than $300,000 in proceedings going to the charity. The mood at the tables was very casual, and everyone was having a great time, smiling and laughing the entire time. The poker player, Phil Hellmuth, acted as the MC and was going from all of the tables, calling the action that was going on as it happened. At this tournament, the stars got most of the attention from the media but on Friday the 2009 Main Event will start and the focus will turn back around to the actual poker game.