Isabelle Mercier(credit: Poker Stars Blog - Neil Stoddart)
Isabelle Mercier defeats tough final table to win the Ante Up for Africa Europe tournament.
Poker Stars’ Ante Up for Africa was a big success, raising more than 250,000 euro for relief efforts in Darfur, Sudan. 40 players entered the tournament, contributing the 4,000 euros fee. Poker Stars added 100,000 euros to the mix.
According to the Poker Stars blog, “While a host of pro players, including a great turn out of Team PokerStars Pros, provided the poker expertise, a fine group of celebrities from the TV screen, to music and sport provided the glitz that ensured this event not only raised a sizeable sum, but also raised awareness for the continuing problems in Darfur."
The final table was certainly a star-studded affair. Here were the standings as the action got underway:
• Seat 1: Dario Minieri, Team PokerStars Pro, 43,400
• Seat 2: John Duthie, Team PokerStars Pro, 39,000
• Seat 3: Patrick Chene, 20,100
• Seat 4: Sebastian Chabal, 20,300
• Seat 5: Luca Pagano, Team PokerStars Pro, 41,500
• Seat 6: Tony Guoga (Tony G), 18,200
• Seat 7: Daniel Negreanu, Team PokerStars Pro, 151,000
• Seat 8: Teddy Sheringham, 44,900
• Seat 9: Isabelle Mercier, Team PokerStars Pro, 42,700
Although Negreanu had a commanding chip lead going in, he didn’t win the event. English footballer Teddy Sheringham took a huge chunk of his chips and Negreanu busted well before heads-up play. Sheringham carried a 3-1 chip lead into the heads-up match-up against Poker Stars pro Isabelle Mercier.
However, Mercier overcame the deficit to win. As she said, “It was great fun to play, but overall I am very proud to have helped raise so much money."