Ante Up for Africa “… bringing Dafur out of the darkness and into the light”
Fifteen years after the world failed to stop the massacre of more than 800,000 innocents in Rwanda, the world’s response to the current bloodshed in Africa is shockingly similar. World leaders sit by hoping the violence will just disappear. It won’t.
These were the words echoed by Don Cheadle and Annie Duke in the “Ante Up for Africa” press conference held at the Rio Hotel today, in their attempt to bring the humanitarian crisis in Dafur, “out of the darkness and into the light”.
In a US$5,000 buy-in Texas Hold-em tournament, poker and Hollywood celebrities got themselves a chip and a chair (as MC Phil Hellmuth commentated), amongst them Andy Bloch, Doyle Brunson, Annie Duke, Chris Ferguson, Daniel NegreaneuTed Forrest, Phil Gordon, Clonie Gowen, Barry Greenstein, Joe Hachem, Jennifer Harman, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Phil Laak, Howard Lederer, Mike Matusow, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Tilly, Robert Williamson III.
And representing Hollywood – Ben Affleck, Jason Alexander, Hank Azaria, Charles Barkley, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Shannon Elizabeth, Brad Garrett, Willie Garson, Gina Gershon, George Lopez, Danny Masterson, Mekhi Phifer, Ray Romano, Adam Sandler and Martin Sheen.
At the time of posting, the tournament was still in full swing, with Daniel Negreaneu being knocked out first, but was allowed an unusual but very popular “re-buy” back into the tournament. We’ll report on the winner and what funds were raised for this cause as we get the details.
For those interested in following this progress of Don Cheadle and Annie Duke, who are working so hard to raise awareness of this cause, log on to http://www.anteupforafrica.org , or www.enoughproject.org to learn more about what you can do to assist in preventing mass atrocities and genocide – the focal point of this tournament.
