No room for charity in Poker?
Who says there’s no room for charity in the game of poker? Well being charitable to your opponents in a game of poker would be very odd indeed; however, playing poker to raise money for charity – is surely a most noble thing to do. Poker players are often portrayed as being rather self-indulgent and only ‘out for themselves’. So a piece of news that really deserves a wider audience than it is reaching at present; is the news that some professional and celebrity poker players got together recently to pay a charity poker tournament, to raise money for people affected in the strife ridden Darfur region of Africa.
Winning for charity.
Even though it was for charity - Isabelle Mercier showed 'No Mercy' as usual.
Raising €260,000 (that’s about the same in dollars) the ‘Ante Up for Africa’ tournament in Monte Carlo was supported by; and generously contributed to by PokerStars. The tournament was won by Canadian born Isabelle Mercier. Isabelle plays mainly in Europe, with her best season to date being 2005 when she finished tenth on the European tour. Despite starting the final match with a very strong lead – Daniel Negreanu, from the USA with career earnings of over $10 millions, finished fifth out of the nine players whilst another Europe based player, Darion Minieri, finished in third place. Darion is the fourth all-time highest poker money winner from Italy, holder of a 2008 World Series bracelet and is perhaps best known for being the first poker player ever to buy a Porsche Cayman S, from the VIP club, with his winnings.
The best celebrity was …
Perhaps the surprise of the night was that a celebrity took second place. Teddy Sheringham, a former international soccer player from England who has played for teams including Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspurs, ended up in a head-to-head with Mercier with a 3-to-1 chip advantage, before Isabelle fought back and took the title.