October 12, 2005 – Los Angeles, CA – bodoglife.com Founder and CEO Calvin Ayre and actress Shannon Elizabeth teamed up on Saturday to throw an extravagant charity poker tournament to benefit Elizabeth’s own animal rescue, Animal Avengers.
Elizabeth noted, “When we first thought of throwing this event, we really wanted to team up with a company who could bring a lot to the table. bodoglife.com and Calvin are very generous, they’ve supported great charities in the past and they are known for great parties!” She added, “I was thrilled when they offered to support Animal Avengers.”
Noted poker tournament director Matt Savage ran the contest, whose players included: Oliver Hudson (Dawson’s Creek), Ashley Scott (Into the Blue), Willie Garson (Sex and the City), Sara Rue (Less than Perfect), Lance Bass (N’SYNC), Roger Cross (24), Shondrella Avery (The Office), Steve Jones (Sex Pistols), Jenna Fischer (The Office), Andrew Keegan (Ten Things I Hate About You), Jurnee Smollet (Roll Bounce), Vince Van Patten (World Poker Tour) and poker pros Phil Gordon and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson , to name a few.
Though Hudson won the tournament, Elizabeth placed an impressive fourth overall.
Ayre said, “Shannon is one of our favorite poker players, she was part of Team Bodog at the World Series of Poker, and made it to the final table at our Bodog Salutes the Troops event.” He concluded, “Since we are animal lovers too, it was a perfect fit to support Animal Avengers.”
The tournament and party benefited the furry friends of Animal Avengers. One aim of the organization is to find homes for those animals orphaned after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The event took place in a private home in Beverly Park, overlooking Beverly Hills.
bodoglife.com, located in San Jose, Costa Rica, is federally licensed by the Costa Rican and UK governments. One of the pioneers in the field, bodoglife.com is the top-ranked US facing online gambling brand, with highest site traffic amongst multi-product US gaming web sites according to Hitwise.