Ben Affleck & Matt Damon show their cards for Darfur

Submitted by CelebsGoneGood on Sun, 07/06/2008 - 23:02

Once again, Ben Affleck showed his poker prowess in Vegas at the World Series of Poker tournament -- but this time, it wasn't just for bragging rights. 

Affleck and Boston bud Matt Damon joined a host of celebrities for a pre-July Fourth Ante up for Africa tournament with all celebrity winnings going to Darfur charities.

While Damon was out of the running in minutes, Affleck outlasted all other celeb competitors.

Also ponying up $5,000 to participate at the tables: Adam Sandler, Ray Romano, George Lopez, Jason Alexander and prominent Darfur activist -- and star of  2008 Do Something Award winner Adam Sterling's Darfur Now documenatry -- Don Cheadle. The event, which Cheadle and poker pro Annie Dukes started last year, raises money and awareness for Darfur, where more than 300,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced since ethnic warfare began in 2003, according to the U.S. presidential envoy to Sudan.

The tournament benefitted the International Crisis Group and the Center for American Progress’ charity, ENOUGH, as well as Cheadle, Damon, George Clooney, and Brad Pitt’s Not On Our Watch group.

"Hopefully we won’t be here in five years for Darfur," Cheadle said at a press conference, according to People. "This isn’t going to be solved one nation at a time. We need to bring this to the world. We’re actually doing a great job in this country."

As the tournament began, the prize pool totaled $418,000. Last year’s tournament earned more that $500,000 for the charities.

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Comments

musiqsoul says:

Its great that these celebs are pooling money together to help spread awareness about Darfur. Unfortunately, many people barely know about Darfur, or aren't fully informed about it. However, others do believe the United States should stay out of international crisis and basically "mind their business". But genocide is something that should not be ignored by people who have the ability to do something about it. It is a crime against humanity to let genocides occur and do nothing about it. It also isn't just the celebs responsibility, but people in general to work together and to inform one another.

metsgrl18 says:

It is clearly awesome that these people are using their fame and money to try to right a horrific wrong in the world. The people of Darfur certainly need all the help they can get. Still, the crisis in Darfur has gotten so much attention and publicity, it would be nice to see a few of these celebrities branch out and shed some light on other human rights violations throughout the world. There have been several celebs who have really been focusing on Darfur for some time, and they should certainly continue to do so. It's just that a few of the others could find their own interests and maybe bring other equally significant issues into the public eye.