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Fri, Jul 3rd, 2009 @ 12:00am
The Ante Up for Africa Charity Tournament is one of the biggest poker charity events of the year. This charity tournament supports the refugees from the Sudan region of Darfur. After nine hours of play, Alexander (Alex) Bolotin was crowned the champion of the Ante Up for Africa tournament and won $177,730 for his first place finish.Many big names made the flight over to Las Vegas in order to support the event which was hosted by Annie Duke and Don Cheadle. Ante Up for Africa is in its third year at the Series. This year saw 138 of the most high profile people in the world. Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Sarah Silverman are just a sampling of celebrities who made it out to the event. Poker pros who also came out for the cause were Andy Bloch, Greg Mueller, and Jennifer Harman.Players in the event are encouraged to donate at least 50 percent of their winnings to the charity. John Hennigan, last year's champion, donated his entire first place prize to the cause. The tournament was scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. local time. However, in WSOP fashion, it did start about one hour late. The players in the event start with a stack of 10,000 chips.The registered players made their way through the red carpet to their seats. Seated at a table together were Matt Damon, Tiffany Michelle, Dennis Phillips, and Chad Brown. Phil Hellmuth started his day by doing the commentating for the event. He would walk over to different tables and report on the action. The event, which is being filmed for TV, was the main attraction in the room. It was almost impossible to make your way around the tables. Fans stormed the rail and begged the players for autographs as they walked by. Rapper, Nelly, was seen autographing hands and arms. Players would drop like flies. By 7:00 p.m. local time, there would be only two tables left. All the celebrities that were in the field, including Nelly, Jason Alexander, and Brad Garrett had been eliminated on the way to the final two tables. After Matt Damon was the last big name to be eliminated, the crowd seemed to disappear as well.When play was combined to two tables, Jennifer Harman, Mike Sowers, and Chris Ferguson were all still in the hunt, as were, Matt Graham and Phil Gordon. The players would play one twenty minute level and then take a break. Once they returned from break, it seemed as if the two tables became one within twenty minutes.Here was the final table seating chart:Seat 1:Eric SeidelSeat 2:Robert KaySeat 3:Phil GordonSeat 4:John HenniganSeat 5:Chris 'Jesus' FergusonSeat 6:Rafe FurstSeat 7:Adam RichardsonSeat 8:Alex BolotinSeat 9:Jennifer HarmanJennifer Harman would be the first to be eliminated from the final table. Her pocket jacks got cracked and she was sent packing in 9th place. Matthew Kay and John Hennigan would be next to go. Phil Gordon would be the sixth place finisher when he could not catch a diamond to win his all in. The 5th place finisher was Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson. 4th place had the name of Eric Seidel belonging to it. The very next hand Rafe Furst was all in during his blind. He could not improve to stay alive.Heads up play lasted one hand as Alex Bolotin won the tournament when his AJ offsuit held up against the 75 of Adam Richardson. Alex Bolotin takes home $177,730 for his finish. He stated to Norman Chad during their interview that he was donating 50 percent of his winnings to the cause.For full Ante Up for Africa coverage click here.