With all the razzmatazz of the main event, there was one event that almost slipped under the net, that being the Antes Up for Africa charity event. Now a permanent fixture of the Series, Antes Up for Africa is a charity that seeks to provide aid for a war-stricken Darfur, and is supported by a number of key figures. Among those are many famous faces from both the poker and celebrity circuit, including the likes of Annie Duke, Don Cheadle and Ben Affleck.
This year, the event was a $5,000 no limit Hold'em freezeout affair which attracted a total of 88 runners, thus creating a total prize pool of $427,680. There were a number of notable faces on the final table, Phil Hellmuth and Dan Shak both finishing well, whilst Casey Affleck and 'Everybody Loves Raymond' star Ray Romano gleefully proved that they are not just talented thespians, but mean poker players too. However, in the end, the spoils went to Charlie Brown lookalike and former WSOP bracelet winner, John Hennigan, who took away $136,860 for his troubles.
The final result was as follows:
1st John Hennigan -- $136,860 (Las Vegas, Nevada)
2nd Michael Degusta -- $85,536 (Santa Barbara, California)
3rd Dan Shak -- $54,529 (Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania)
4th Phil Hellmuth -- $38,491 (Palo Alto, California)
5th Matt Calhoun -- $31,006 (Phoenix, Arizona)
6th Jerry Cantrell -- $25,660 (Encino, California)
7th Jordanna Schutz -- $21,384 (Boulder, Colorado)
8th Ray Romano -- $18,176 (Santa Monica, California)
9th Casey Affleck -- $16,038 (Santa Monica, California)
Also running simultaneously to the main event was the lesser celebrated media event. With Harrahs recognising the efforts put in by the poker press, all members of the media were treated to a no limit hold'em freeroll, which boasted a $12,000 prize pool. The winner of this event was Brett Collson from Deer Park in New York who won $5,000 for his charity of choice.
Finally, in other news, Harrahs officially announced that records had been broken when they released the final playing figures. With 58,720 entrants and $180,676,258 in prize money over 55 events, the 39th annual World Series of Poker became the largest and richest World Series to date.
In conclusion, World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said, "The results this year demonstrate the increasing global appeal of our events and the universal recognition that winning a World Series of Poker gold bracelet is poker’s ultimate achievement."