Is it that time again already?

It seems like we were just writing about last year’s Ante Up For Africa — the celebrity-saturated poker tournament co-founded by actor Don Cheadle to help raise some much needed cash for the crisis in Darfur.

This past Thursday, 138 players (including some professionals) joined celebs like Sarah Silverman, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Alexander, Nelly, Cedric the Entertainer, Herschel Walker, Charles Barkley, Dean Cain and Brad Garrett. For the first time, ESPN carried the event — which should shed even more light on this important cause.

From the website,

“Three years ago we founded Ante Up for Africa, a charity to raise money for relief efforts in Darfur through poker events. When we founded the charity we approached Jeffrey Pollack, the Commissioner of the World Series of Poker, who was so enthusiastic about the cause that he jumped in with both feet and had the WSOP partner with us. AUFA became an official WSOP event and our first year we raised $700K. Before Thursday our charity had raised $2.1m for the Darfuri people.”

Check out some photos from the event below:

Joining the actor was Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Alexander, George Lopez, Ray Romano, and Adam Sandler (among others) anteing up the $5,000 entry fee to compete. All of the money raised in the Texas Hold’em tournament will go to Not On Our Watch, which benefits victims of the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. Said Jason Alexander, ”All the tournaments I’ve ever won have been for charity. When there’s no actual money for me, I’m very good.”

According to sources, Damon exited the tournament early — with Affleck, considered the more seasoned poker player, bowing out later in the day. Organizers ask the two final winners to donate as least half their winnings to Not On Our Watch. Last year, both finalists pledged 100%. 

In other words, now that the precedent has been set, if the final two don’t follow suit they’ll look like insensitive bastards. 

via AP

Former Seinfeld star Jason Alexander has written up a nice piece over on The Daily Green detailing how him and his family work to make their lives more eco-friendly. While the actor takes advantage of solar energy, recycling, and other green elements, it’s the discussions on where this is all headed that gets him excited. One promising industry in particular, thermal depolymerization, is a big focal point. From the article,

“We talk about the excitement of alternative fuel research and how we must empower politicians and advocates that will invest in that technology. I sometimes get into mind-blowing discussions with the kids about an experimental technology called ‘thermal depolymerization.’ It is a new and cutting edge science but if it can be developed fully, it will enable us to take almost all the waste products we create and recycle them into water and usable oils. Very exciting.”

“We do what we can. We drive hybrids. We drive with an awareness of fuel conservation, when possible. We are stingy with power use in our home. We carpool. We use solar energy in certain parts of our property. We recycle. We reuse.”

For the full piece, jump on over to TDG here.