John Hennigan(credit: Wikipedia)
88 players paid the $5,000 entry fee to play in the star-studded Ante Up for Africa benefiting Darfur on July 2, 2008. The event, now in its second year at the World Series of Poker, is the brain-child of Annie Duke and Don Cheadle and seeks to raise both funds and awareness regarding the genocide in the African region.
Participants were drawn from the world of entertainment, sports and, of course, poker. They included people such as Jason Kidd, Charles Barkley, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Adam Sandler, Ray Romano, Scott Ian, Jason Alexander, George Lopez, Barry Greenstein, Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Phil Gordon, Annie Duke, Don Cheadle, Erik Seidel and many more.
Nine people cashed in the event with the winner, John Hennigan, a two-time WSOP bracelet holder and WPT champion, receiving $136,860 for his efforts.
Here are the final results:
1) John Hennigan - $136,860
2) Michael Degusta - $85,536
3) Dan Shak - $54,529
4) Phil Hellmuth - $38,491
5) Matt Calhoun - $31,006
6) Jerry Cantrell - $25,660
7) Jordanna Schutz - $21,384
8) Ray Romano - $18,176
9) Casey Affleck - $16,038
Proceeds from the event went specifically to the Not on Our Watch (NOOW) project, which was founded by Cheadle, George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon to focus attention on stopping such atrocities worldwide.