Bettis, Holyfield among athletes in World Series of Poker charity event

By Case Keefer (contact)

Sunday, July 4, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.

Jerome Bettis earned the nicknamed “The Bus” during his NFL career for his tendency to run over his opponents.

The way Bettis tells it, he did the same thing to his Pittsburgh Steelers teammates — only on the poker table.

“We used to have a home game with some of my teammates for eight years solid every week,” Bettis said. “It was a pretty good game, so I’ve been playing for a while.”

Bettis tried out his poker skills in Las Vegas for the first time Saturday afternoon in the World Series of Poker’s fourth annual Ante Up For Africa charity tournament and found some success. Bettis finished sixth for $22,624.

The tournament, which raises money and awareness for the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, annually attracts a number of celebrities, athletes and poker pros.

This year’s Ante Up For Africa, hosted by poker pro Annie Duke and actor Don Cheadle, brought 81 players who paid the $5,000 entry fee. WBF heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield joined Bettis as the other marquee athlete at Saturday’s event.

Like Bettis, Holyfield was not intimidated at taking a shot at poker on one of the game’s biggest stages.

“When it comes down to it, it’s about making good decisions,” Holyfield said. “It’s the same thing in boxing.”

Holyfield didn't last very long in the tournament, exiting well short of the final table. Poker pro Phil Gordon ended up winning the tournament and the $130,641 first place, all of which he donated to Ante Up For Africa charity.

Under Nevada gaming law, no one can be required to donate their winnings in a tournament to charity. But it is strongly encouraged for players to set aside at least half of any earnings in the Ante Up For Africa tournament for the cause.

Almost everyone has obliged in the event’s history. Over the last four years, the tournament has generated nearly $4 million in donations.

Both Bettis and Holyfield planned on giving any prize money to the charity before the event.

“When it comes to this tournament itself they were talking about what’s happening in Africa and how they want to raise awareness,” Holyfield said. “I wanted to contribute to someone who is less fortunate. How can I not be a part of something like this?”

Holyfield said he used to play poker as a child with his family, but didn’t have much experience other than that. He recently became a spokesman of an online poker site, realdealpoker.com, and committed himself to learning more about the game.

“When you come up in poverty, you learn how to play cards,” Holyfield said. “I just don’t have to play cards anymore because I can make bigger money doing something else. That’s the whole reason I stopped doing it, but now I’m back in it.”

Holyfield, however, had no immediate plans to participate in other poker tournaments. Bettis said he would consider playing in the $10,000 buy-in Main Event, which kicks off Monday.

Bettis didn’t want to put much thought into it Saturday because he was concentrated on spreading Ante Up For Africa’s message.

“I found out what all these people are going through,” Bettis said. “If I can come out and help raise awareness with my presence, that’s the littlest I could do.”