Ante Up for Africa Pays Off Well
July 15, 2009
When it comes to poker players playing for charity, there are plenty of
opportunities out there. Poker players love to win, and they love to give
back to their favorite charities at the same time. Professional poker
players have been eagerly anticipating the Ante Up for Africa event that
actor Don Cheadle and poker star Annie Duke have put together.
This year the event was held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and casino in Las
Vegas, and more than 138 players joined in to raise money for this worthy
cause. This year’s event brought in big names like Ben Affleck and Matt
Damon, among a host of other celebrities and poker players and they were
able to raise more than $362,000 for the displaced people in Darfur. The
winnings come not just from the buy ins, they also come from the celebrities
and other poker players donating those winnings to a great cause.
This is the third year that the charity poker tournament has run, and it
will be televised later this year. But there are other charitable events
that run as well, as poker players love a good cause. There is Bad Beat on
Cancer that was started by Phil Gordon and Rafe Furst that has brought in
more than $2 million for cancer research; there is Montel Williams who hosts
poker games to help battle multiple sclerosis; and there is Brad Garret and
Jason Alexander who both hold poker tournaments at casinos to help families
in need.
Duke says that although poker players are usually looked upon as self
serving and out for that big win, they are actually people with a heard of
gold. Plenty of poker players have their own charities that they donate to
on an individual basis, and she says that they believe in helping out others
wherever they can.
