On Saturday afternoon, CBS Sports aired the second of two episodes of the PokerStars.net Ante Up for Africa tournament that played out during the European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo festivities.
Kara Scott served as the host of the event as it played out on the CBS Sports Spectacular broadcast. The nine-handed final table began with Daniel Negreanu holding a commanding chip lead with 151,100, well ahead of the 49,000 stack of EPT founder John Duthie. Alexander Armstrong and David Tuckman had the call of the event, which featured on-screen card backs with Ante Up for Africa logos and player names shown alongside their native country’s flag.
In the night’s first elimination, Teddy Sheringham raised with K-Q of clubs and rugby player Sebastien Chabal shoved with A-9. Team PokerStars Pro member Luca Pagano pushed over the top and Sheringham quickly folded. The flop came 4-J-2 and a running 10-8 gave Pagano a flush in the hand. Chabal was out in ninth and told Scott, “I’m disappointed because I wanted to win the whole thing. I’m happy, had a great time, and made some great friends.”
Meanwhile, Duthie hit the rails in eighth place after shoving pre-flop with A-K. Poker pro Tony G made the call with pocket jacks and turned a third jack. Duthie was drawing dead to the river and hit the exits. French journalist, writer, and presenter Patrick Chene was eliminated in seventh place at the hands of Dario Minieri’s A-J. Despite having a new arsenal of chips, Minieri folded to a re-raise by new Betclick pro Isabelle Mercier holding pocket eights. Minieri was getting 2:1 to call and Mercier held A-J for what would have been a coin flip situation.
Pagano was ousted after pushing pre-flop for 23,000 chips. Minieri called from the big blind at a discount holding J-3. The board ran out 2-A-3-J-J, giving Minieri a boat. The hand moved Minieri to second on the PokerStars.net Ante Up for Africa leaderboard, with Negreanu now the tournament’s short stack. Negreanu was sent to the rails at the hands of Mercier, who won a coin flip with pocket eights against K-Q. Negreanu told CBS cameras, “I was the chip leader and I seemed to be dominating and all of a sudden, the blinds went up and I folded and folded like a little wimp.”
Tony G was ousted in fourth place holding Q-6 against A-8 after an eight-high flop. Observing the action was “Heroes” star James Kyson Lee, who told Scott, “There are a lot of people here from all different fields. It’s great that we’re able to come together, do something fun, and raise awareness for Ante Up for Africa.” Norman Epstein, Full Tilt Poker pro Don Cheadle, and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke founded the charity in 2006. It is the centerpiece of an annual $5,000 buy-in gala during the World Series of Poker (WSOP), which aired in 2009 on ESPN.
Mercier and Sheringham both doubled up at the expense of Minieri, who was ultimately eliminated after running pocket tens into Mercier’s pocket queens. Mercier promptly doubled up with K-4 against Sheringham’s A-5 after the flop came 4-J-J. Then, the former member of Team PokerStars Pro called Sheringham’s all-in with A-2. Sheringham turned over 10-4 and the board ran out 6-8-Q-J-10 with four diamonds. Mercier’s deuce of diamonds was the only card of the suit held by either player and Mercier took down the inaugural Ante Up for Africa event in Monte Carlo.
Over €250,000 was raised for the Ante Up for Africa charity in Monte Carlo and no prize money was doled out to players. Instead, Mercier, who battled through a field of 43 runners, claimed a crystal trophy in the shape of a PokerStars logo.