You may recognize him by his performances in some of Hollywood’s most talked about films, including Hotel Rwanda and Crash, but where Don Cheadle feels most comfortable – by the looks of it – is around the green felt.
Actor. Activist. Fund Raiser. Don Cheadle is well known in the celebrity world for his passion for causes, especially the plight of refugees in Sudan. As co-founder of Ante Up for Africa – together with Annie Duke and Norman Epstein – Cheadle has turned a relatively minor tournament into one of the industry’s biggest charity events for Third World needs.
Keen to tap into the Cheadle name and talent for drawing celebrities to his causes, the online poker room Full Tilt Poker announced this week that Cheadle has become a Friend of Full Tilt.
While Team Full Tilt includes top professional names such as Chris Ferguson and Phil Ivey, Cheadle will be in good company with Friends of Full Tilt that include the author Michael Craig and UFC celebs Bruce Buffner and Matt Hughes.
Don Cheadle is by no means a stranger to the poker table. He has been known to give quite a fight against some of the biggest stars in the industry, as he demonstrated when he took on – and beat! – Phil Ivey in the first round of the NBC National Heads Up Championship in 2007.
Such an impact this victory made on the celeb poker circuit that Cheadle’s defeat to Scott Fischman in the subsequent round is hardly remembered.
Cheadle returned the following year, only to be bumped out in the first round, but 2009 saw him retain his reputation as a player worth reckoning with after he beat David Pham – a 2006 WSOP bracelet holder – in the first round of the event.
Cheadle now has his eyes on a bigger poker tournament. “I’ve done alright in the televised tourneys I’ve participated in, and I’ve won several tournaments around town,” he said. “I have yet to play in the WSOP events, but I hope my schedule will permit me to do so in the future.”
