Carmen Electra hosts poker fundraiser in Vegas

Ex-"Baywatch" babe Carmen Electra was joined by a slew of poker pros and fellow celebrities when she hosted a charity poker tournament and silent auction at the Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas June 3 to benefit brain tumor survivors. The night included a poker tournament, a dinner party and a silent auction.

The poker night was run by tournament director Matt Savage, and helped raise nearly $100,000 for Head to Hollywood, a non-profit program of the Pituitary Network Association co-founded by Electra, whose mother died from a malignant brain tumor in 1998, and US Magazine weekly editor Ken Baker, a brain tumor survivor.

Famous faces in attendance included poker pros Annie Duke and Gavin Smith as well as actors Laura Prepon and Shannon Elizabeth, among others.

The poker tournament was followed by food and drinks at Body English and the Helio Bar, respectively. Items on display for the silent auction included a World Poker Tour (WPT) Boot Camp package and a $25,000 seat to the WPT main event, a four-person tour of the Playboy mansion, a bathrobe donated by Hugh Hefner, and two jerseys autographed by Shaquille O'Neil, among other things.

Head to Hollywood provides survivors of both cancerous and non-cancerous brain tumors with a VIP experience in Hollywood. Lucine Beshirian, a 13-year-old girl who went partially blind as a result of her tumor, recently attended "American Idol" with Electra as a recipient of the Head to Hollywood program.

News Added: 12 June, 2006

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