PokerStars Hosting African Charity Tournament

LONDON, England -- PokerStars, the world's largest online poker site are pleased to announce a special star-studded addition to its European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final week with the first ever
  Ante Up For Africa Europe Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament. The event is aimed at raising money within the poker community for the current humanitarian mission in crisis torn Darfur.

The event will take place on April 27, 2009 at 6pm, a day before the PokerStars EPT Season Five Grand Final Main Event. A field of A-list celebrities and poker pros including Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Joe Hachem and Vanessa Rousso will compete in the €4,000 buy in no-limit Texas hold'em tournament held in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

All of the prize money from the PokerStars Ante Up For Africa Europe tournament will be donated to Ante Up For Africa to help fund the work of charities that provide aid and assistance to the survivors of the situation in Darfur, Sudan, and support activism dedicated to resolving the crisis. PokerStars will be awarding the winner of the tournament with a special prize package to their flagship EPT event in the Bahamas' in January 2010.

Ante Up For Africa have run two previous charity tournaments during the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas over the last two summers – the events have attracted numerous players including Hollywood stars Ben Affleck, Adam Sandler, Montel Williams, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Jason Alexander, Charles Barkley, Ray Romano, Shannon Elizabeth and top professional poker players such as Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem, Daniel Negreanu and Barry Greenstein and to date Ante Up For Africa has raised closed $2 million for the cause.

While the situation in Darfur has shown signs of improvement the area remains perilous.

A campaign of ethnic cleansing by Government forces in Sudan over several years has left more than 300,000 dead and almost three million displaced, living in squalid conditions in refugee camps along the Chad/Sudan border. Peacekeeping forces are gradually being deployed but not without difficulty, being short of vital helicopters and other supplies to make helping those in need possible.

The International Criminal Court has indicted top Sudanese officials with more expected as world pressure mounts. Companies are pulling out of business with Sudan amounting to tens of millions of divestiture, and 22 US states have passed laws forbidding pension funds from investing in companies doing business in the country. But the fragile conditions faced by civilians remain.

The hope of PokerStars and Ante Up for Africa is for events like Ante Up for Africa Europe and the third annual Ante Up for Africa tournament this summer in Las Vegas will bring more attention to the crisis and create further support for peacekeepers and aid workers in the region.