To all poker aficionados out there! Want to have a poker experience very memorable? Just imagine joining in a charity poker tournament, sitting at the card table with Matt Damon on the right side and Charles Barkley on your left!
And imagine that your friends stares back at you, wide-eyed, star struck,and exhorting you to go on, they're obviously enthralled at you!
Now you're playing poker, your seeking for luck. You dealt with 2 Queens, then the flop comes: 2 Queens and Jack and then you see the cast of Ocean Thirteen's Don Cheadle at the end of the table.
Delighting stories like these are few and far between , however, when they come along, they are told an retold for a lifetime!
Famous celebrities are not hard to find in a city like Las Vegas but it's rare to find oneself at the table as well as a renowned celebrity, let alone a group of celebrities.
And now to announce that Ante Up For Africa is filled with high-caliber Hollywood personalities and offering a chance to play poker against and alongside well-known celebrities and poker professionals!
Want to know some of the renowned celebrities who are playing poker against you? The actor and poker player Matt Damon, the basketball NBA super star Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller.
Actor Don Cheadle, TV host and poker player Montel Williams, actor, producer, comedian, writer, and director Marlon Wayans, comedienne, writer, actress, singer and musician Sarah Silverman, actor Cassey Affleck, film and television actor, director, comedian and voice artist Hank Azaria, actor, voice actor and stand-up comedian Brad Garrett, and retire NFL Herschel Walker will also participate!
Also taking part of the event, poker professional Howard Leaderer, MIT Blackjack Team Member Andy Bloch, Full Tilt Poker player Erik Seidel, and the living legend of poker with 11 World Series of Poker Bracelet wins Phil Hellmuth will also compete for the prize!
The tournament is being organized in support of Ante Up for Africa, which helps victims of ongoing humanitarian crises in Darfur and Sudan.
Don Cheadle started the nonprofit 3 years ago, along with professional poker player and recent “Celebrity Apprentice” star Annie Duke who won an envied World Series of Poker bracelet in 2004 and has collected more than $4 million in poker tournament winnings and Norman Epstein.
Ante Up For Africa started in 2006, and they had raised nearly $ 2,000,000.
Anyone can enter the tournament, provided they’re at least 21 years old and are able to Ante Up the $5,000 entry fee.
Meanwhile, those who prefer to watch can do that for free!
The contest will get underway at 2 p.m. on July 2 at the Rio Convention Center’s Amazon Ballroom. The tournament is expected to last no more than five hours from start to finish, and will be followed by a post-poker party at Caesars Palace.
The tournament will air as a three-hour special on Aug. 11 on ESPN.
This year’s Ante Up for Africa effectively serves as an outset for the 2009 World Series of Poker Tournament, which will get underway the following day.
The World Series of Poker last year attracted 58,720 players from 124 different countries and doled out $180 million in prize money.