Raising interest in Dafur
Are celebrities superior poker players?
"This celebrity is," said Ben Affleck, who was in Vegas Wednesday for the second annual Ante Up for Africa poker tourney. Along with his pals Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and poker pixie nonpareil Annie Duke, Affleck was among 100 or so players who ponied up $5,000 each to benefit victims of the human rights crisis in Darfur. In all, the event raised more than $400,000 for Not on Our Watch, a charity founded by Damon, Cheadle, Brad Pitt, and George Clooney.
Cheadle, who was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of a hotel manager who helped save hundreds of lives in Rwanda, told us the poker tournament has already made a positive impact in Darfur. He pointed, in particular, to a UN Security Council vote authorizing a peacekeeping force in the area.
"It wouldn't have taken place [without us]," said the "Hotel Rwanda" star.
Among other celebs going all in were Jason Alexander, Jennifer Tilley, Shannon Elizabeth, and New Hampshire native Adam Sandler, who joked, as the first hand was dealt, "I just want to hurry up and lose my money and go home to my wife."
Ray Romano, Ben's kid brother Casey Affleck, and poker "brat" Phil Helmuth were among the big winners, and each donated all their dividends to the charities. Damon, meanwhile, was eliminated early on, but said he was just pleased to play for a cause.
"Financially, average people are feeling a lot of pressure now in America. It's hard enough to run your own life, and to get involved in what's happening [in Darfur], it's complicated and it's ever-changing," Jason Bourne's alter ego told us. "I think it can be difficult for people to kind of stay on top of what exactly is going on. That has to do with the fact that people are feeling a lot of pressure in their own lives right now."
Ben Affleck, who's been taking poker lessons off and on for years, knows a good hand when he sees one. He made it all the way to the final table only to lose to poker pro John Hennigan.
Ah, well, you can't win them all. Affleck, whose visits to the Sudan were featured on "Nightline" last week, said politics - not poker - is the best bet to end the suffering in Darfur.
"I do think that [Sudan's leaders] are afraid of the next administration being tougher, and are probably a little bit more willing to be more cooperative," Affleck told us. "But I'm optimistic about what's going to happen."
She gets her kicks on 'Gladiator'
Annie Castellano, who grew up running the cash register at her family's pizza joint in Wilmington, will wrassle "Panther" (a.k.a. Corrine de Groot) Monday night on NBC's "American Gladiators." The 20-year-old student at Columbia College Chicago is a Gladiators enthusiast from way back and a Muay Thai kickboxer, so she was psyched when the show held tryouts in the Windy City in February. "I was like, you gotta be kidding me! I am so going to that," she said. Several grueling months followed - from a physical fitness audition to a two-week boot camp in LA, which forced her to drop school for the semester. "My father was a little iffy about it, because he lost some money," she said. In her episode, taped in April, Castellano had to wear blue spandex shorts and race a 52-year-old competitor, Yoko Ohigashi, up a giant, padded pyramid. "I felt wicked bad," Castellano admitted about the 30-year age difference. (In a promo, she taunts Ohigashi, "You could be my grandmother!") Whether Castellano advances to the semifinals is under wraps. But if she wins, she'll get $100,000, a new car, and a chance to join the Gladiators as a pro next season.Globe correspondent Sabrina Golmassian contributed to this report. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253. 