"Ante Up For Africa" Scheduled For July 2

A major array of big name poker pros and poker playing celebrities will be supporting this year's Ante Up for Africa tournament, which is scheduled to kick off on the afternoon of July 2 at the Rio in Las Vegas, taking advantage of the attention that the World Series of Poker is receiving at the same venue.
Here are some of the players who will be joining Duke and Cheadle at the felt: fellow actors Ben Affleck, Ray Romano, Matt Damon and Adam Sandler together with NBA Hall of Famer and TNT analyst Charles Barkley, NBA star Jason Kidd, comedians Kevin Pollack, Cheryl Hines and George Lopez, and musician Joe Trohman of the Fallout Boy band. Providing an equally powerful lineup from the industry will be internationally respected poker "names" such as Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Erik Seidel, Phil Gordon, Barry Greenstein, Phil Laak and Phil Hellmuth Jr.

WSOP director Jeffrey Pollack, announcing this year's event, said: “The poker community has a unique opportunity to help ease the suffering in Darfur. The stars are coming out for this special event once again, and we encourage everyone to register early before we sell out.”  Pollack said the Ante Up for Africa had been designed to finish in around five hours or less.

The publicity opportunities for the cause are considerable - the World Series of Poker is covered by more than 600 journalists and represented by players from 85 countries worldwide. Funds from the tournament will go to benefit two charities, ENOUGH and Not On Our Watch.

This is the second time for the charity event which was conceived by actor Don Cheadle and poker ace Annie Duke to raise money for the victims and bolster public awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan. In its inaugural run, the event raised a praiseworthy $700,000 for the cause, thanks to a stellar turnout of players and Hollywood celebrities, who donated at least half their winnings.

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