Arts & Culture Headline Article LA Charities

Celebrity Poker Tournament Raises Money for Ante Up For Africa

Cash for your car

Ante Up Poker Tournament

Academy Award nominee® Don Cheadle and professional Poker player/Celebrity Apprentice Star Annie Duke kept their poker faces on as they hosted the 3rd Annual Ante Up For Africa Charity Celebrity Poker tournament.

John Cheadle Antes Up

Don Cheadle antes up.

A-listers came out for the charitable event held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Celebs such as Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Mike Tyson, Sarah Silverman,Nelly, Dean Cain, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Jason Alexander, Hershel Walker, Brad Garrett, Cedric the Entertainer, Jennifer Tilly, Montel Williams, and poker greats such as Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Joe Hachem, Jennifer Harman and Phil Gordon showed their support for the event, which raised $362,000 for the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan.

This year the celebrity-studded event garnered coverage from ESPN, which increased awareness to this important effort. Creating awareness generates passion in people – passion that gets communicated to governments and governments ultimately create change.

About Ante Up for Africa

Ante Up for Africa aims to raise money for relief efforts in Darfur through poker events. AUFA has raised over $2.1m for the Darfuri people over the last three years. The conflict in Darful has killed 400,000 people, and more than 3 million Darfuris have been forced to flee their homes. AUFA’s hopes are to create a dynamic international effort to forge a lasting and equitable peace for all of Sudan.

Dean Cain Lending a Hand to Charity Poker Event

Dean Cane, Tiffany Michelle, Hershel Walker

Coming Up

AUSA’s next event will be October 29th at San Manuel Casino. To learn more about AUSA, or to donate to their worthy cause, please visit www.anteupforafrica.org.

Poker Tournament

Sarah Silverman, Brad Garrett (l) Ben Affleck, Annie Duke were all in.

About the author

Helen M. Ryan