WSOP: event #54, MAIN EVENT DAY 1A

Shuffle Up & Deal

The biggest tournament on earth has just begun with nearly 30 Everest Poker players among the 5,000 strong field:

Otto Richard (Everest Poker Team), 35th in the $1500 mixed hold'em

2kewl4school (http://www.ottopoker.fr/)

Romain Despres (Everest Poker team)

blindmaster (http://www.blindmaster.fr/)

Daan Slutter (Everest Poker Team) 66th in the $2000 Texas Hold'em No Limit

krul (http://www.daanslutter.nl/)

Voitto Rintala (Everest Poker Team) 9th in the last $1500 Texas Hold'em No Limit

RandomEyes

Stefanie Bergener (Everest Poker Team)

sunni (http://www.stefaniebergener.de/)

Leroy Soesman (Everest Poker Team)

flash_light

Sylvain Coeur (Everest Poker Qualifier)

Jolicoeur

Ante up for Africa

More than a dozen celebrities and athletes returned and joined poker's most notable players to raise public awareness and funds to support the victims of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan, at the 2nd annual Ante Up For Africa tournament at the 2008 World Series of Poker. Created by Oscar nominee Don Cheadle and poker pro Annie Duke, the Ante Up for Africa tournament began at 2 p.m. July 2nd at the Rio® All-Suite Hotel & Casino, home of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Last year's Ante Up For Africa event featured more Hollywood celebrities and poker professionals than any other charity tournament ever and raised more than $700,000.

Here are two videos in the red carpet:

Ben Affleck

Matt Damon

And obviously our own staff couldnt resist taking a picture with the stars!