Don Cheadle To Host The 3rd Annual Celebrity-Charity Poker Tournament

Attention all poker players! There is going to be an all-celebrity poker game that takes place in the next few weeks – and money raised will go to charity.



Mark your calendar for the July 2: 3rd Annual Ante Up For Africa Charity Event happening in 2 in the afternoon at the Rio Resort Las Vegas.

Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle will again be hosting the 3rd Annual Ante Up for Africa : Texas Hold-Em Tournament together with the duchess of poker and the poker icon, Annie Duke. The event is in association with the 2009 World Series of Poker. The tournament merges their desire to contribute to a resolution of this crisis and their passion for poker.

The Ante Up For Africa tournament will also host an exclusive party for the players and stars at PURE, one of Vegas’ hottest night clubs. It will also be televised on ESPN on Tuesday, Aug. 11 from 8-10 p.m.

The celebrities will be uber famous and putting their piles of money where their moufs are. So far the list includes; Matt Damon, Jason Alexander, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Montel Williams, Herschel Walker, Hank Azaria, Brad Garrett, Marlon Wayans, Sarah Silverman,Casey Affleck and Rob Schneider, with many more in the process of being confirmed and expressing their interest to play in the coming weeks.

The tournament will feature a fast-paced structure designed to complete the competition within five hours. Seating for the tournament is open to anyone age 21 or older.

The proceeds from the Ante Up For Africa tournament will once again go to charities The Enough Project, that provide aid and assistance to the survivors of the crisis in Darfur, Sudan and support activism dedicated to resolving this crisis. Previous Ante Up tournaments have raised more than $2 million for the cause.

“I am very pleased that we have raised almost two million to date and appreciative of everyone who has participated and donated to help us on our mission of bringing the plight of the refugees of Darfur to the forefront of people’s minds,” said Cheadle.

The crisis in Darfur is entering its 6th year. The conflict has killed 400,000 people and forced more than 3 million Darfuris to flee their homes.

The recent expulsion of key international humanitarian groups by the government of Sudan in response to the International Criminal Court issuance of an arrest warrant for President Omar Al-Bashir has placed hundreds of thousands of the most needy at even greater risk and without access to medical care or reliable food supplies.

President Bashir continues to utilize starvation as a weapon of war to silence his opponents and to distract the world from the key issues in Darfur. Now more than ever, there needs to be a dynamic international effort to move beyond simply managing Sudan’s multiple crises and forge a lasting and equitable peace for all of Sudan that ensures genuine power-sharing.

Our hope is that through efforts like Ante Up for Africa, we can continue to keep the issue in the spotlight while providing real funds to support a brighter future for the people of Sudan.

You can sign up to play at http://www.anteupforafrica.org. All players are being asked to donate half of their winnings to Ante Up for Africa, which in turn will make a significant contributions to Enough and Refugees International.

If you’d like more information about this cause, be sure to head over to Celebrity Poker Players Blog!




Photo courtesy of http://www.enoughproject.org/ http://images.goolge.com http://www.newstoob.com