Bodog Beat

Annie Duke and Don Cheadle hosted their second annual WSOP celebrity charity poker tournament. (Bodog Beat Image)

Annie Duke and Don Cheadle hosted the second annual Ante Up for Africa WSOP celebrity poker tournament yesterday. The $5,000 celebrity tournament saw a field 88 players pony up for charity. The hosts ask that all participants donate at least half of their winnings to charity but last year’s final two players set a precedent of donating 100%.

This year saw a net prize pool of $427,680 most of which, if not all, was donated to Ante Up for Africa’s cause of lending support to the victims of the Darfur crisis.

The final nine players cashed in this event. The final table included: Ben Affleck’s brother Casey Affleck, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, and poker pros Phil Hellmuth, Dan Shak and John Hennigan.

Just before the money bubble burst and Ben Affleck was eliminated Phil Hellmuth invited him to take over his chips and play for a while. Affleck played well and helped get Hellmuth into the money before they switched back.

First to get eliminated was Casey Affleck who was awarded $16,038 for ninth place which he donated to the Ante Up for Africa charity.

Next out would be Ray Romano who got to donate $18,176 for eighth place.

Jordanna Schutz (who finished in 11th place last year) went out in seventh for $21,384 while Jerry Cantrell and Matt Calhoun went out in sixth and seventh places for $25,660 and $31,006 respectively.

Next out was the Poker Brat Phil Hellmuth who earned $38,491 for fourth place.

The final three players came down to two poker pros: John Hennigan and Dan Shak (who won last year) and an entrepreneur from Santa Barbara, Michael Degusta.

Shak was unable to repeat last year’s performance and was eliminated in third place for $54,529 while Hennigan went on to eliminate Degusta and take down the first place prize of $136,860. Hennigan generously donated 100% of winnings to the charity.

John Hennigan, “Johnny World,” was a world class pool player before switching over to become a world class poker player. Daniel Negreanu has described him as one of the best live poker players in the world. He has two WSOP bracelets and almost $3 million in tournament winnings.