PokerStars to Host European Version Of Ante Up for Africa Tournament

[Eric]

WPT) Championship today, next week brings the year-end festivities of
the fifth season on the PokerStars-sponsored European Poker Tour (EPT)
with its Grand Final. As a part of that schedule of events in Monte
Carlo, PokerStars has announced that for the first time ever there
will be a charitable tournament before battle begins in the Grand
Final.

PokerStars will team up with Ante Up for Africa, the charitable
foundation started by actor Don Cheadle and Poker News Daily columnist
Annie Duke, to present the first ever Celebrity Charity Poker
Tournament. The event will take place on April 27th at 6:00pm local
time, one day before action begins on the EPT Grand Final. The
tournament, much like the previous events that have run during the
World Series of Poker WSOP) over the past two years, is aimed at
raising money within the poker community for the current humanitarian
efforts in the war-torn African nation of Darfur, which continues to
suffer from ethnic cleansing, poverty, and starvation of its
citizens.

Team PokerStars Pro members Daniel Negreanu No Limit Texas Hold'em
tournament with all of the proceeds that are raised going towards the
efforts of Ante Up For Africa. As the Grand Final draws the cream of
not only the European poker community, but also those from the United
States, there should be a bevy of brand name pros and celebrities in
this event. Instead of a cash prize for the winner, PokerStars will be
awarding a special prize package to its flagship EPT event in the
Bahamas, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, in January of 2010.

The two previous tournaments run during the schedule of the WSOP in
Las Vegas have drawn the best in the poker world as well as some of
the most popular celebrities in Hollywood. Luminaries of the
entertainment world, including Ben Affleck, Adam Sandler, Montel
Williams, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Jason Alexander, Charles Barkley,
Ray Romano, and Shannon Elizabeth, have stepped up to play poker
against top professional poker players such as Barry Greenstein Andy
Bloch. Top professional John "World" Hennigan captured the
championship last year in Las Vegas, but more importantly, the
previous WSOP events have raised close to $2 million for Ante Up For
Africa.

The hope of Ante Up for Africa for the events this summer in Las Vegas
during the WSOP and in Monaco during the EPT is to bring more
attention to the crisis and create further support for peacekeepers
and aid workers in the region. For more details on the organization
and its efforts in Darfur, visit the Ante Up For Africa website to
learn more and make a donation.