Ante Up for Africa
Thursday, July 2, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
Today is perhaps the most glamorous day of the World Series of Poker, as celebrities from the entertainment, sports and poker worlds come together for the Ante Up for Africa charity tournament. A total of 138 players bought into the $5,000 event, and as always it’s hoped that the players will voluntarily donate some of their prize winnings (most donate all) to the Ante Up for Africa charity.
This is the third year that the Ante Up for Africa charity (created by UltimateBet’s Annie Duke, actor/director Don Cheadle, and Norman Epstein) has held this event at the World Series of Poker, and it seems like every year it brings even more famous faces to the Rio–and more people who gather at the rail to see those famous faces, take pictures, and ask for autographs.
But as I said last year during last year’s Ante Up for Africa event, it’s fine to focus on the glamorous celebrities and the excitement of the tournament today, so long as you remember why this event came together tomorrow. I said that this is the third year that the Ante Up for Africa event has been held at the WSOP, and that means that the humanitarian disaster in Darfur is still going on three years on. In fact the situation suffering from the war and genocide there is more dire than ever before.
In the January 5, 2009 edition of the New Yorker Jonathan Hart wrote about aid workers from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees who are trying to help a quarter of a million Sudanese living in refugee camps just across the border from the Darfur region. If you’re interested enough in the poker tournament and the celebrities playing in it to read this post, then I hope you also read Hart’s article and understand why so many people support this cause. And if my words don’t move you to learn more about the catastrophe in Darfur, then perhaps these photographs taken by Christoph Bangert at the refugee camps will:
You don’t have to become an aid worker to help the people suffering in Darfur–each and every one of us can provide in some small way that can add up to big changes. Make a donation. Write to your elected officials to make sure they don’t let Darfur fall off the world stage. And keep yourself educated about what’s happening in that part of the world. The Ante Up for Africa tournament comes one day a year, but the charity operates 365/24/7. And that’s how often their aid is needed.
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Tags: 2009 wsop, Annie Duke, Ante Up For Africa, ante up for africa tournament, charity poker tournament, don cheadle, world series of poker, WSOP, wsop ante up for africa, wsop charity tournament
