Celebrity Poker: Don Cheadle

Ante Up for Africa co-founder Don Cheadle has signed on a renonwed online poker room Full Tilt Poker. Celebrity poker player Don Cheadle is one of the world’s leading actors and has appeared in the hit movie “Crash” as well as the “Oceans Eleven” trilogy. Don Cheadle may not have much, if anything, for major tournament cashes, but he's no stranger to poker. He's played in televised events such as the NBC National Heads-Up Championship and Celebrity Poker Shoot-Out.

The poker world sat up and took notice in 2007 when he was paired against Phil Ivey in the first round of the NBC National Heads-Up Championship and managed to defeat one of the game's best pros. He went on to lose in Round 2 to Scott Fischman. NBC invited him back in 2008 and 2009 to participate again. In 2008, Don Cheadle was out in the first round after losing to Gus Hansen, but in 2009 he held his own against David Pham in the first round before being defeated in Round 2 by Paul Wasicka.

Celebrity poker player Don Cheadle, along with poker pro and Celebrity Apprentice finalist Annie Duke and Norman Epstein, created the charity tournament to benefit the humanitarian efforts in Sudan. Charities such as “The Enough Project”, “Not on Our Watch” and the “International Rescue Committee” have been awarded over $2 million in donations as a result of Ante Up for Africa events.

“I’ve done alright in the televised tourneys I’ve participated in and I’ve won several tournaments around town. I have yet to play in the WSOP events, but I hope my schedule will permit me to do so in the future,” said Don Cheadle.

About Don Cheadle: Being recognized by a major publication as a cool dude would definitely up his sex appeal factor as far as the ladies are concerned, He made his big-screen debut in 1985's Moving Violations and landed guest roles on shows like Fame, L.A. Law and Hill Street Blues before appearing in the 1987 Vietnam War-drama Hamburger Hill.

Don Cheadle is known for his roles in a number of high-profile films, including Boogie Nights in 1997, Traffic in 2000, Hotel Rwanda in 2004, Crash in 2005, and Traitor in 2008. He also portrays Basher Tarr in the Ocean's Eleven series and cowrote Not On Our Watch: The Mission To End Genocide In Darfur And Beyond in 2007.

In 2002, Don Cheadle found himself back on TV guesting on The Bernie Mac Show, MAD TV and episodes of ER. He added a number of high-profile movie roles to his resume in 2004, including appearances in Ocean's Twelve for which he earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. In 2005, he coproduced and costarred with Sandra Bullock and Matt Dillon which picked up the Oscar for Best Picture of 2006.

Moved by the horrific situations in Darfur and Rwanda, Don Cheadle spent the next couple of years campaigning for an end to the genocide. That same year, he costarred with Adam Sandler in Reign Over Me, and logged in another appearance as Basher in Ocean's Thirteen. As for blockbusters on the horizon, Don Cheadle has been tapped to replace Terence Howard as Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes and the silver Iron Man in the Iron Man franchise with Robert Downey Jr.

Don Cheadle will make his directorial debut with the adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Tishomingo Blues. He also appeared in NFL commercials promoting the Super Bowl from 2002–2005. Don Cheadle has been in a relationship with actress Bridgid Coulter since the early-90s; they have two daughters, Ayana and Imani.

Celebrity Poker: The Dream

Celebrities can develop their sense of social responsibility by playing poker. They can also help improve the awareness of people about the game of poker. These people can serve as good examples for the people who are watching them. Like singer The Dream who played poker to help people from Africa.

Celebrity poker player The Dream, with her girlfriend Christina Milian were spotted earlier this week at a Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament held in luxurious Monte-Carlo. Online casino poker site, PokerStars launched their first Ante Up for Africa charity poker tournament was held last night in Monaco on the eve of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final. The live event raised €260,000 for the Darfur charities.

With a total of 40 runners put up €4,000 each to play in the massive fundraiser, creating a €160,000 prize pool that was donated to charity. PokerStars, which sponsored the Monaco tournament, donated another €100,000. In the end, Team PokerStars Pro member Isabelle Mercier emerged as its champion, defeating Teddy Sheringham. However, the grand prize package, a trip to the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, went to Sheringham, a British soccer player who was a member of the Manchester United in the late 1990s.

With the help of the poker icon Annie Duke, Don Cheadle, and Norman Epstein founded Ante Up for Africa 3 years ago. To date, it has helped raise over $2,000,000 for the cause, including $245,000 generated from NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice”.

About The Dream: Terius Nash or simply “The Dream”, Born in North Carolina, Terius Nash was raised in the Bankhead section of Atlanta, Georgia. Before he found his calling in music, the industrious young man made ends meet doing everything from working at Checkers to becoming a collections agent.

After graduating from H.S., The Dream joined a singing group, Guess Who, signed by local rapper Raheem. They sang the hook to “Most Beautiful Girl,” which became moderately successful. “It did pretty good, got a lot of spins,” says The Dream. A few years later, The–Dream began writings songs for up–and–coming rappers and hooks for his peers. He got his first publishing deal in 2003, when he signed to Peer Music after writing B2K’s single, “Everything.” The song, off B2K’s platinum sophomore album, Pandemonium, truly put The–Dream on the map. “My grand daddy told me I would never make any money in this business. Music just wasn’t a reality for him. I never knew until I was 21 or 22 that I could actually be successful in the music business.” The Dream said.

With one success under his belt, Terius began to build momentum and soon found himself associating with the upper echelons of pop stardom. “A year after B2K I did the Britney Spears and Madonna record, I recorded vocals and wrote to that record after Tricky, the guy I did “Umbrella” with, decided he didn’t want the track anymore. I was the new guy in the building so I stayed overnight running in and out the booth recording myself in Pro Tools. Tricky and a writer before me, Penelope, went up to N.Y. [to meet] Britney. They played a lot of songs and Britney was like, I dunno. Then they got to “Me Against the Music” and she was like, “Oh, I’m digging that. I love that hook!” The Dream continued.

Unfortunately, that song didn’t push The–Dream to the level he wanted to reach. He spent two years working on other projects including Nivea’s second album, which he executive produced. “Trick and I just started making records. By the time we got to "Umbrella" we were like ‘ok, we got it.’” Dream insisted that L.A Reid hear the song and the rest is history.

Now The–Dream is finally in the building, combining all of his hit–making talents for his debut, Love Me All Summer, Hate Me All Winter. Throughout his career, Dream has seen people change like the weather, but in the coming months he is forecasting a 100% chance of reign.

Singer Celebrity Poker: Christina Milian

For those of you who thought all singers make popular hip hop beats and blow away all their cash at various luxury goods retailers, think again. Believe it or not, but they have a soft spot when it comes to poker tournaments.

Along with other celebrity buffs, Christin Milian were spotted earlier this week at a Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament held in luxurious Monte-Carlo. Online casino poker site, PokerStars launched their first Ante Up for Africa charity poker tournament was held last night in Monaco on the eve of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final. The live event raised €260,000 for the Darfur charities.

With a total of 40 runners put up €4,000 each to play in the massive fundraiser, creating a €160,000 prize pool that was donated to charity. PokerStars, which sponsored the Monaco tournament, donated another €100,000. In the end, Team PokerStars Pro member Isabelle Mercier emerged as its champion, defeating Teddy Sheringham. However, the grand prize package, a trip to the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, went to Sheringham, a British soccer player who was a member of the Manchester United in the late 1990s.

With the help of the poker icon Annie Duke, Don Cheadle, and Norman Epstein founded Ante Up for Africa 3 years ago. To date, it has helped raise over $2,000,000 for the cause, including $245,000 generated from NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice”.

About Christina Milian: Before her introduction into the mainstream R&B/hip-hop music scene, Christina Milian put her acting skills to use by appearing in a variety of popular TV sitcoms including Clueless, Sister, Sister, Charmed and The Steve Harvey Show. She's also appeared on the big screen in The Wood as well as American Pie, and contributed her voice to a character in the animated film A Bug's Life.

Her career in the spotlight began at a very young age when she was cast as Annie Warbucks in the theatrical musical rendition of Annie. Shortly thereafter, Christina Milian made her next big move to the Disney Channel (no, she wasn't part of that cult-like Mickey Mouse Club that has somehow spawned today's generation of pop stars, including Britney Spears, Christina Aguliera and Justin Timberlake.

During her stint in California, she also made some prosperous connections in the music biz. Christina Milian appeared in Ja Rule's No. 1 single "Between Me and You." At this point she had fans worldwide sit up and take notice while wondering to themselves, "Who on earth is she and where did she come from?" From this point on, it was all uphill for Christina Milian. After completing her debut album, she wowed audiences far and wide as the opening act on *N Sync's stadium tour. Her album was finally released in October 2001, much to the excitement of her newfound fan base across North America. In 2004, her name skyrocketed to fame with her hit single, “Deep it low”.

In 2008, EA released it's 16th version of the hit first-person driver game, Need for Speed: Undercover. Taking video games to a whole new level, EA incorporated snipits of film throughout the game, with Christina Milian starring as the race crews tomboy hottie, Carmen Mendez. The game, which hit shelves November 18, 2008, is just in time for the Christmas rush. Along with her video game role, Christina Milian will also hit the silver screen in 2009 starring alongside Matthew McCaughhey and Jennifer Garner in The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.