In an agreement made between Spike TV and Bodog Online Casino, Poker Room and Sportsbook, Bodog Productions has produced a made-for-TV special program benefiting United States servicemen and women and their families. Calvin Ayre, Bodog’s founder and CEO, is the star of the special program and has said that the special is a way of saying thank you to the thousands of men and women serving in the U.S. military. Bodog Gambling Group claims that their hour-long television special, benefiting U.S troops and their families, is the first one ever produced by a company in the online gambling industry. The “thank you to the troops” celebrity-studded, two-day event was held in Hawaii earlier this year and was directed at the 110,000 men and women of the U.S. military that were either returning from the Middle East or awaiting orders for deployment there. The one-hour television program that was made from the charity event is set to telecast on Spike TV on Sunday, December 18 (12:30 -1:30 a.m ET/PT; 11:30 p.m.–12:30 a.m. CT) as “Bodog Salutes the Troops: A Tribute to American Heroes.” The Fisher House Foundation, which supports military families, was the beneficiary of the event, which included celebrities, musicians, comedians and troops interacting in various activities, including a poker tournament and concert and comedy show. The event took place on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. Servicemen and women representing the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines and the ARMY were all there to participate at the activities and came from such bases as Hickam Airforce Base, Schofield Barracks, Pearl Harbor and the Kaneohe Marine Corps Base. An inter-service poker room tournament, overseen by world famous poker tournament director Matt Savage, started off the two-day event where military finalists played against celebrities, professional poker players and Bodog players. The tournament took place at the exclusive Kahala Mandarin Oriental resort. Actress and first-time tournament player Estella Warren (“The Cooler,” “Planet of the Apes”) won the No Limit Texas Hold’em tournament, winning ninety other players along the way, including professional poker player David Williams. Warren kept the grand prize trophy she won for winning the tournament, but donated the money in her name to the Army’s morale welfare department. Shannon Elizabeth (“American Pie”), Emmy Award winner Jorge Garcia (“Lost”), World Series of Poker winner Josh Arieh, four servicemen, and Bodog winner Tim Johnson also made it to the poker show’s final table. Tim Johnson was able to get to Hawaii because of the earnings he received playing at an online Bodog tournament. Sgt. 1st Class Shane Woods of the Army took home the second-place prize. “We are incredibly grateful to Bodog for their compassion and generosity,” said the Vice President of Fisher House Foundation, James Weiskopf. “We hope that the weekend will bring added attention to the Fisher House Foundation and the military families that we support.” Posted on: December 14, 2005
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