The first ever PokerStars Ante Up for Africa charity poker tournament was held last night in Monaco on the eve of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final. The live event raised €260,000 for the Darfur charities.
A total of 40 runners put up €4,000 each to play in the massive fundraiser, creating a €160,000 prize pool that was donated to charity. PokerStars, which sponsored the Monaco tournament, donated another €100,000. In the end, Team PokerStars Pro member Isabelle Mercier emerged as its champion, defeating Teddy Sheringham. However, the grand prize package, a trip to the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, went to Sheringham, a British soccer player who was a member of the Manchester United in the late 1990s.
Rapper Nelly, whose songs “Hot in Herre” and “Dilemma,” among others, hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, was in attendance in Monaco to raise money for charity. He was flanked by fellow singer Christina Milian, who hit number two on the same chart with “Dip it Low” in 2004. Another musical act to showcase its poker skills was The Dream, who won BET’s Best New Artist in 2008. The band Good Charlotte was represented by its lead singer, Joel Madden, and Bruno “Kool Shen” Lopes, a rapper from France, also joined in the festivities. Other celebrity attendees included “Heroes” star James Kyson Lee, “Sex in the City” actor Jason Lewis, U.K. television personality Kirsty Gallacher, Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg, Liverpool goaltender Pepe Reina, and two members of the rugby community, Sebastien Chabal and Mike Tindall.
Team PokerStars Pro member Daniel Negreanu was on-hand for the event in Monaco. He’s fresh off a win in a CAN $2,500 buy-in tournament held during the British Columbia Poker Championships in November for CAN $370,000. “Kid Poker” also took fifth in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event for nearly $400,000. That tournament was won by Full Tilt Poker pro John Juanda and represented the first bracelet win for an American in WSOP Europe history. Three former WSOP Main Event champions were on hand in the Principality as well, as Greg Raymer (2004), Joe Hachem (2005), and Peter Eastgate (2008) hit the felts for charity. All three are card-carrying members of Team PokerStars Pro. Eastgate holds the record as the youngest Main Event winner ever, taking down last year’s edition at the tender age of 22.
Victor Ramdin, who won the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Foxwoods Poker Classic in 2006, was also in attendance. His WPT win was worth $1.3 million and saw the Team PokerStars Pro member race through a final table that included Alex Jacob and Edward Jordan. Also in the field on Monday was the runner up in the 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, Vanessa Rousso. One of the top female poker pros in the game, Rousso fell to Huck Seed heads-up. The tournament airs on Sundays on NBC through May 17th and the action starts at Noon ET each week. Dario Minieri, who won his first WSOP bracelet last year in a $2,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament, also turned out.
The first day of play in the €10,600 buy-in EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final takes places today with Day 1A. Tomorrow, contestants participating in Day 1B will hit the felts. The survivors will merge together on Thursday for Day 2 and play down to a winner on Sunday. Last year’s champion, Glen Chorny, pocketed €2 million for the win and defeated a record field of 842 players. The final table included Isaac “westmenloAA” Baron, Antonio Esfandiari, and Team PokerStars Pro member Luca Pagano.
Annie Duke, Don Cheadle, and Norman Epstein founded Ante Up for Africa three years ago. To date, it has helped raise over $2 million for the cause, including $245,000 generated from NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice.”
