Container Top
Homes   Jobs   Cars   Shopping
Search

Events Calendar

EVENT SEARCH:

In This Section


Most Read Stories


Blogs:


Akron Law Café:
Public Lecture: Israeli Law Expert to Speak at School of Law

Car Chase:
What were they thinking? AMC Pacer

The Heldenfiles:
Where's David Frye?

Patrick McManamon:
On Manny, Hafner, Flacco and the Indians

Browns Bulletin:
Live blogging Monday night

Cleveland Browns:
Cleveland Browns: From the Coach

Cleveland Cavaliers:
Game Blog: Cavs v. Celtics in Providence

Cleveland Indians:
Boston tops Tribe 6-1

Akron Zips:
Andrew Johnson still 'doubtful'

Varsity Letters:
Week 8 scoreboard

Kent State Sports:
Previewing Ohio

The Sports Mix:
OSU Buckeyes - Changes to offense

Ohio Politics:
Pathetic Mailer in the 42nd House District

See Jane Style:
Street Style Muses

All Da King's Men:
When All Else Fails, Just Call The GOP Racist

Blog of Mass Destruction:
Don't Believe GOP Lies About Mortgage Crisis

HRLite House:
HR in the Federal Government - Homeland Security

Akron Gamer:
Lego Batman fun for all ages

BokBluster:
Speaking at Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library Saturday 1:00pm

Ohio Travels with Betty:
Where is the covered bridge festival?

Sound Check:
Black Keys join Devo's "Duty Now for the Future" Concert bill

Let's Talk Real Estate:
Haunted House #2: Barberton has more than Chicken!

Celebrities ante up for Darfur charities

By Laura E. Davis
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS: Celebrities turned out Wednesday to donate to Darfur charities — and to show their fellow stars just who the real card sharks were.

''I'm looking forward to whipping a lot of celebrity rear end,'' talk show host Montel Williams said before beginning play in a charity Texas Hold 'Em tournament at the World Series of Poker. ''I tweaked my game, and my game is really solid.''

Williams and 87 others, including such Hollywood heavy hitters as Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Alexander, George Lopez, Adam Sandler and Ray Romano, played in the no-limit tournament to raise money and have a good time.

Charles Barkley also played after a recent pledge to take a hiatus from gambling. The 45-year-old former NBA star, who was sued in May by the Wynn casino for failing to pay back gambling loans, said he would donate his winnings to charity and didn't plan to spend a lot of extra time in town.

The TNT commentator paid back his markers shortly after the casino filed a civil complaint. Barkley said on the air during the NBA playoffs that he wasn't going to gamble for ''the next year or two.''

Players donated prize money from the second annual Ante Up for Africa to charities working in the Darfur region of Sudan. Cheadle and poker pro Annie Duke began the event last year to raise money and awareness for the region, where more than 300,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced since ethnic warfare began in 2003, according to the U.S. presidential envoy to Sudan.

The tournament benefited two charities: ENOUGH, a project co-founded in 2007 by the International Crisis Group and the Center for American Progress, and Not on Our Watch, a group co-founded by Cheadle, Damon, George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

Players in the poker tournament paid $5,000 to enter, and were asked to donate at least half their winnings evenly to the two charities. Nevada law prohibits poker tournaments from designating a certain amount of prize money for charity, so players signed contracts at the tables, pledging at least half their winnings.

As play began, the prize pool totaled $418,000. Last year, the event raised more than $500,000 for the charities and finished with the top two players pooling their $350,000 in winnings and donating it to the cause.

Alexander won the first hand at his table with Damon, eight-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Erik Seidel and others when he raised before the flop and everyone else folded.

Cheadle was eliminated by Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell when his pair of jacks couldn't top Cantrell's queens.

LAS VEGAS: Celebrities turned out Wednesday to donate to Darfur charities — and to show their fellow stars just who the real card sharks were.

Get the full article here.


Story tools

Email  Email   Print  Print   Save  Save   Reprint  Reprint   Popular  Most Popular   Reprint  Subscribe

Share this story

AddThis Social Bookmark Button