| 17 Jul | Winners of Ante Up for Africa tournament give away winnings to charities of DarfurPosted by PokerBarney on 7:54AM, 17th Jul 2007Permalink |  Send to a friend |  RSS feed |
This year saw a first in the world of poker when two players decided to give away their all of their winnings to a worthy cause – the Ante Up for Africa. The two players Dan Shak and Brandon Moran made a public announcement at the World Series of Poker that they would give away al of their winnings to the charities affiliated with the Ante Up for Africa .
This remarkable day was the 5th of July of the year 2007 and at 22:40 an amazing thing happened in Las Vegas. Players Dan Shak and Brandon Moran were the two generous poker players who made this decision at the WSOP or the World Series of Poker in front of a live audience of thousands and numerous others watching via the media coverage. The Ante Up for Africa was a special tournament organized by Don Cheadle and Annie Duke and was presented at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
The World Series of Poker is one of the most highly popular tournaments known to poker enthusiasts all over the globe. The WSOP has a yearly giveaway of over 12 million dollars in The World Series of Poker tournament prize money. This year Dan Shak and Brandon Moran who were the finalists of the tournament stopped the entire audience at the WSOP short when they made their announcements.
Almost at the finish of the tournament Dan Shak , one of the last two of a collective number of 167 contestants, stood up from the table and said that he would give away every cent of any prize money that he won to the "Ante Up for Africa" and its designated charities which were the Enough Project and the International Rescue Committee. Brandon Moran, who was Shak’s opposition soon followed the other player’s announcement with a similar one of his own. He also made a pledge that he would donate the entire 100 percent of all the money he won to the Ante Up for Africa charities for Darfur .
These announcements ended the tournament rather abruptly and both the men were awarded first place in the World Series of Poker. The total amount of prize money that was won by these two players Dan Shak and Brandon Moran alone amounted to $386,738. All this money will go to the "Ante Up for Africa" and all the other charities tied into it namely, the Enough Project and the International Rescue Committee.
The entire program, Ante Up for Africa" was the result of a collaborative effort between Don Cheadle, an Oscar nominated actor and Annie Duke a poker professional. The project was embraced and encouraged by Jeffrey Pollack who is the Commissioner for the World Series of Poker. The special tournament Ante Up for Africa" was presented by Milwaukee's Best Light and the tournament participants were required to provide $5,000 each to play in the event.
However, all this money went into the Poker pool and could be won as a personal prize at the tournament. This was because the goal of the organizers, Don Cheadle and Annie Duke was not to take the winnings as a donation but rather for the entire program to be a means of creating public awareness of the severe humanitarian crisis situation that is very dire in Darfur where more than 2 million people have been driven out from their homes and are suffering under extreme difficulties. A large number of Hollywood celebrities, among who were Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as well as various sports personalities who also did their part to help.
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