Pauly and I step into the Poker Kitchen to discuss Ante Up for Africa — essentially the We Are the World of poker tournaments — and in doing so chew on the difference between ’80s famine and Darfur genocide, life outside the WSOP bubble, the mindset of pros playing for a good cause with a tournament underlay, and a lack of charity signage in what’s supposed to be a charity WSOP VIP lounge.
Let me start out by saying that the Ante Up for Africa tournament is a stellar effort to raise money for Darfur refugees and awareness of the mass atrocities taking place in Africa and around the world. The ENOUGH and Not On Our Watch projects are doing wonderful things, and I hope this tournament raises a great deal of money for the causes.
The tournament was held in the Brasilia room here at the Rio. That’s all I know. How many players? Didn’t have time to count because the media was given 15 minutes for photos before we were kicked out. Names of all the celebrities and poker pros? Again, not enough time to write them down. Hopefully, a press release will be issued with all of the information at some point.
Good news? Mekhi Phifer was playing in the tournament.
Bad news? I’m not sure where to begin.
Blanket statement: The media aspect of this day was handled poorly. Very poorly.
The RSVP’s for the Ante Up for Africa tournament (July 2) are coming in. Confirmed celebrity charity players so far:
Don Cheadle
Matt Damon
Ben Affleck
Adam Sandler
Ray Romano
Charles Barkley
Jason Kidd
Kevin Pollack
Cheryl Hines
George Lopez
Joe Trohman (Fall Out Boy)
Sweet … as the song goes, “Ain’t no party like a J. Kidd party ‘cuz a J. Kidd party don’t stop!”
It’s a $5k buy-in for a luck-heavy blind structure. Remember when the concept of paparazzi-able celebs playing terrible poker used to make for good TV? Click here for a special registration form for Event #167.
The beneficiaries of this event (which raised $700k last year) are enoughproject.org and notonourwatchproject.org.
Annie Duke has been getting healthy and training for a marathon since late in 2007, but something has dampened her hopes of running in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in San Diego on June 1. That thing is her pelvis, which she evidently fractured while running. The fractured pelvic bone has her benched until it heals.
Her latest blog post indicates how disappointed she was to receive the doc’s prognosis:
Well, bleh! I am really upset. A little amazed that I kept going out and running three and four miles on a fractured pelvis. But upset that I have to cancel the marathon that I have been looking forward to in such a big way and upset that my body has apparently failed me. I suck
Not only was Annie looking forward to completing a marathon, but she was doing it to raise funds for Ante Up for Africa, the organization she runs with actor Don Cheadle. Even so, the duo have succeeded in raising well over a million for the refugees of Darfur thus far. With more than $700,000 raised at the charity tournament at the 2007 WSOP and over $500,000 at the recent San Manuel event, Annie and Don are raising awareness and much-needed funds for the cause. The 2008 Ante Up for Africa tournament is scheduled for July 2nd at the WSOP, and they are hoping to raise closer to - if not over - $1 million at the event.
I find a new level of respect for Annie Duke every time I speak with her.
Last month, she taught the WSOP Ladies Academy I attended, and we had several chances to speak about life and ladies-only tournaments.
On life, Annie changed hers drastically after the 2007 WSOP. She admitted that she didn’t feel so great after smoking and drinking tons of caffeine throughout the Series, so she just stopped. Cold turkey. She went smoke-free and caffeine-free in one day, and she switched to eating only organic foods. On top of that she began running - not just a mile or two but ten or twenty. When we spoke in January, she was up to nearly 20 miles at a time and preparing to run the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon on June 1st in San Diego. She’s going to challenge herself with the run while raising money for Ante Up for Africa.
Her comments on ladies-only events in poker went into my article on PokerWorks. As always with Annie, she doesn’t mince words or filter herself, which is something I admire.
Now, I’m going to think about her healthy ways while I put on my workout gear and eat some fruit light up and drink my caffeinated tea.
Watching the Annie Duke testimony (and related non-poker people arguing both sides of pending anti-UIGEA legislation) left me rather impressed. And then I started thinking about Duke’s good work with the Ante Up for Africa charity tourneys … and thus I came to the conclusion … wow, Annie Duke is doing some good stuff these days.
So that has me wanting to know … who currently is the best ambassador in poker? I hate the phrase “good for poker” … that’s the topic of another post, on how it actually hurts the game … but whether it be from a business, political, or game-play perspective, what known poker celeb is using their status to the best of their abilities to make the game better for us all.
Scroll along the right-hand sidebar to let us know your thoughts on who is really representin’.
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