The Ante up for Africa is one of the world’s most prestigious and popular charity poker events, and one of the things that it owes its status to is the generous participation of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars – stars like Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck. In fact, a lot of people enter this charity tournament for a chance to mingle with the stars. So, really, when the news came out that Ben Affleck had to drop out of the tournament because of a migraine, you can just imagine the groan of disappointment that went through the crowd.

Missing the Red Carpet

When the tournament officially started with its traditional red carpet walk through, the people got pretty excited. The first ones to walk on the carpet were Annie Duke and Don Cheadle, two of the founders of the said tournament. The two of them happily gave interviews to the ones who asked, patiently recounting the tournament’s history and the reason why they founded it. Several pros also walked the red carpet, posing for the cameras and giving interviews while some, like the Full Tilt pro Phil Ivey, practically rushed through the whole thing and simply went inside.

Ben Affleck was conspicuously absent from the red carpet, which caused people to raise some inquiries as to where the famous star was. Apparently, it was found out that Affleck had a splitting migraine and chose to go directly to the tournament, skipping the hassle of flashing camera lights and insistent reporters. Thankfully, Matt Damon was there to pick up his friend’s slack and happily gave interviews of his own, cheerfully smiling for the cameras.

Missing the Tournament

Although Affleck was already suffering from a migraine, he still deemed it proper to grace the tournament with his presence. However, his migraine would simply not let up and he ended up dropping out of the tournament altogether. He expressed his disappointment to a reporter from New York Post, saying “This is the one poker event I go to each year and I didn’t even get to play.”

Unlike Affleck, though, Shannon Elizabeth, hot actress and newly signed poker pro, was having a huge ball. She ended up nabbing second place at the tournament and earning herself a pretty decent $80,000. She was outdone only by Phil Gordon, who took first place and gave his $129,086 prize to Refugees International and Project Enough.

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