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Ben Affleck Wins Democratic National Convention Poker Tournament

Ace Rothstein — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:21:43 +0000

In highly-relevant poker news that barely qualifies as poker and/or news, celebrity poker player Ben Affleck won the recent "Poker at the Ballpark" event hosted by the Poker Player's Alliance in Denver during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

The charity poker tournament was held at Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies, on Tuesday and benefitted the Paralyzed Veterans of America. According to Wicked Chops Poker (via the Wall Street Journal), the "PPA covered the $500 buy-in for each player as well as paid for the club house at Coors Field, the dealers, tables and open bar."

Other celebrities in attendance included recently-single (yay) Sarah Silverman, Richard Dreyfuss and Montel Williams, along with poker pros Andy Bloch and Barry Greenstein.

Affleck won a seat to the 2009 WSOP Main Event for winning the poker tournament (like he needed it) and $60,000 was raised for the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

A similar tournament will be held for the Republican National Convention next wekk and we can pretty much gurantee that none of these same people will show up for that.

Political Poker At 2008 Democratic National Convention

Ace Rothstein — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:05:54 +0000

In a couple of weeks the eyes of the political world will focus on Denver as presidential candidate Barack Obama officially becomes his party's representative at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. And with so much political attention concentrated in one place the Poker Player's Alliance has decided to take advantage of this to host a charity poker tournament.

"Poker at the Ballpark" will be held at Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies, on August 26 and will benefit the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Confirmed to be on hand to rub elbows with the politically-minded poker players that are sure to pony up the $500 buy-in (or the $3,500 for half a table or $7,500 for a full table of seats) for this kind of event are poker pros Andy Bloch and Barry Greenstein along with poker-playing celebrity Ben Affleck.

If you happen to be in Denver and in the mood to donate $500 to charity to play in a poker tournament, the grand prize is a seat to the 2009 WSOP Main Event, so it could actually be worth it. If you can survive all the hot air being spewed by the politicians.