PokerStars players go posh for Ocean's 13

Online poker players shucked their sweatpants in favor of tuxedos to walk the red carpet with poker stars Vanessa Rousso and Isabelle Mercier at the L.A. premiere of heist film Ocean's 13.

Four PokerStars.com players strolled the infamous stretch of rug outside Grauman's Chinese Theater earlier this month after playing and winning at the site's Ocean's 13 Darfur Charity tournaments.

Like other online players who competed in the events, James Bryce, Larry Fisher, Fred Halling and P Han saw their buy-ins and re-buys matched by PokerStars.com to raise $1 million to help aid people suffering in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Four other players have already attended the film's world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

After topping the charity tournament, the men and guests were whisked off to a night on the town with glammed-up pro players Isabelle Mercier and Vanessa Rousso.

The group shared cocktails and hors d'ouveres at an L.A. hotel before rolling up to the red carpet in a stretch Hummer H3 limo.

There, photogs snapped shots of the film's stars - Matt Damon, George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac and Ellen Barkin among them - as the poker players looked on. The group also got to see the actors relaxing at a party after the movie screening.

"I think any event that benefits charity is a good thing, and then to have such wonderful prizes for the winners tops it off," Fisher told PokerStars.com. "It's also great that more than one person can win such an event, as it probably wouldn't have been as much fun without all the others that went."

courtesy of Erin Warner

News Added: 14 June, 2007

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