Despite its reputation, Las Vegas is quickly becoming a philanthropic city, with charity events popping up in some of the most unlikely places. Take for instance the upcoming Celebrity Poker Shootout at the Palms in Las Vegas on Sunday, August 12 at 11:00 am, in the Key West ballroom.

Get ready to go all in for the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada, with celebrities and famous poker professionals hosting the no-limit hold’em poker tournament. The JCC Poker Shootout includes a VIP reception, silent and live auctions, trophies and prizes, ensuring the JCC Celebrity Poker Shootout will be a great time for a great cause. The winner of this event will receive a $10,000.00 entry into the 2008 World Series of Poker main event.

Join blackjack’s reigning princess Erica Schoenberg, GSN High Stakes Poker’s David Benyamine, WSOP seven-card stud world champion Eli Elezra, the glamorous Evelyn Ng, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, and their friends, for a fun-filled afternoon. Emcee and celebrity poker tournament director Matt Savage will host the first-class event.

“This is an honorable event,” said Savage, “I encourage everyone to attend, no matter what their race, creed or religion.”

The charity poker tournament, hosted by celebrities and famous poker players & women poker players, will benefit the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada. What Jewish Community Center you ask? That is precisely the question, as JCC organizers rally to break ground on their own facility. For more than 17 years, Jewish community volunteers and dedicated professionals have coordinated services for thousands of Nevadans from a small office facility. And while the JCC has impacted and benefited this region and its inhabitants on so many levels, the lack of an independent facility has become a logistical nightmare.

Event coordinator Michael Eakman was inspired by the number of programs that the JCC is running out of one humble locale. “It’s hard to believe that one of the fastest growing cities in America, with such a strong Jewish community base, doesn’t have its own center.” Online poker.

Founded in 1991, the JCC currently runs nearly 500 programs in the Las Vegas area, including educational, social, athletic, and cultural projects. And though these programs are designed to promote Jewish values, they also unite, strengthen, enrich, and nurture the entire Southern Nevada community. Download poker wallpapers.

The JCC also feeds thousands of needy families, of every ethnicity, by running one of the largest Food Pantries in Nevada. But doing so requires the JCC to rent the warehouse space necessary to store and distribute inventory. Temporary rentals are required for just about every program the JCC has to offer, including theater space – so that children may be exposed to the arts and music – social halls for various age groups, and sports facilities and fields that afford adults and children the opportunity to participate in athletic programs. The JCC also organizes adult, teen, and senior social clubs, as well as children’s camps, instructional swimming programs, singles groups, restaurant and book clubs, and weekly discussions for parents and toddlers. Play route 66 poker.

“The JCC continues with an amazing mission,” says Schoenberg, “despite not having their own facility.”

The cost to rub elbows and play poker with some of today’s biggest pros is $450. But even if you are unable to attend, there are many ways you can benefit the JCC Celebrity Poker Shootout and its cause, with sponsorship opportunities starting at $200.

Poker News Source: Woman Poker Player