The 2010 World Poker Tour Celebrity Invitational took place on February 20 and 21 at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. The tournament featured celebrities and poker players alike. It was the eighth edition of the invitation only tournament, which has sent this year’s proceeds to Chrysalis, a non-profit organization. The goal of Chrysalis is to help economically disadvantaged homeless people find employment opportunities. Chrysalis was founded in 1984 and since then has helped over 30,000 people get back on their feet. Ninety percent of every dollar donated to the organization goes directly to the individuals being aided. There were 100 invitations sent out to poker players and celebrities for the tournament. The confirmations from those invitations include the following celebrities who were present at the tournament:

Donnie Wahlberg, Marlon Wayans, Eric Dane, Hank Azaria, Teri Hatcher, Jesse Metcalfe, Jamie Lynn Sigler, Chris Kattan, Michael Vartan, Ricardo Chavira, Balthazar Getty, Camryn Manheim, Kevin McKidd, Ron Livingston, Laura Prepon, Danny Masterson, Chris Masterson, Jordy Masterson, Matthew Lillard, Billy Burke, Zachary Quinto, Jerry Ferrara, Eddie Cibrian, Willie Garson, Alessandra Torresani, Ethan Embry, Rick Yune, Melinda Clarke, and Ian Gomez. Ben Lyons, E! Online Film Blogger; Benji Madden, record producer and musician; Ricki Lake, Shannon Elizabeth, Harry Morton; Pink Taco restaurant President and CEO will also be making appearances at the tournament.

The poker pros who were present at the event include the following:

Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari, Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, Mark Seif, J.C. Tran, Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Linda Johnson, actress and poker pro Jennifer Tilly, and Full Tilt Poker pros Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel, David “The Dragon” Pham, Bill Edler, Andy Bloch, and Allen Cunningham.

The tournament began on Saturday February 20 at 7pm with a cocktail hour and a red carpet event. The poker-playing event truly began at 8pm with $200 re-buys available during the first two 40 minute rounds of play. Any players not eliminated after the first day returned to the casino on Sunday February 21 at 1pm and whittled the numbers down to the final six contestants. All the proceeds of the re-buys will go directly to Chrysalis. The final table of the tournament was not played until March 3 at 4pm and was taped for television airing. The World Poker Tour has already guaranteed a prize pool of $200,000 for the final table along with a $25,000 seat in the World Poker Tour Championship, which was held in the month of April.

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One Response to “2010 WPT Invitational”

1. John Chance says:

   March 13, 2010 at 12:32 am

   One day my name will be on that list.