BY TOM SOMACH

A celebrity poker tournament with a possible top prize of $60 million will be held in Monte Carlo, Monaco in May to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the nearby Cannes Film Festival in France.

Event organizers are seeking 10 international film stars or other top celebrities to compete in the charity tourney, which will offer a total of at least $1 million for the participants’ charities.

If any tournament participant comes up with a royal flush in hearts during the competition, that participant’s charity will receive a whopping $60 million bonus.

Event organizers are calling the tournament “The Game of the Century” and have invited dozens of celebrities to participate, hoping to get 10 to come on board.

The list of celebrities who were invited to compete in the charity tournament is a closely-held secret, but PokerHelper.com obtained a copy of the list.

Invited to particpate in “The Game of the Century” were: Ben Affleck, Kevin Bacon, Antonio Banderas, Halle Berry, Bono, Pierce Brosnan, Patrick Bruel, Nicolas Cage, Jim Carey, George Clooney, Daniel Craig, Russell Crowe, Matt Damon, Robert DeNiro, Danny DeVito, Johnny Depp, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Vin Diesel, Michael Douglas, Laurence Fishburne, Samuel L. Jackson, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Jamie Foxx, Morgan Freeman, Andy Garcia, Mel Gibson, Salma Hayek, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Angelina Jolie and Tommy Lee Jones.

Also invited were: Ray Liotta, George Lucas, Tobey Maguire, Demi Moore, Eddie Murphy, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sean Penn, Joe Pesci, Brad Pitt, Sydney Pollack, Keanu Reeves, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Will Smith, Sylvester Stallone, Ben Stiller, Kevin Spacey, Steven Spielberg, Kiefer Sutherland, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Tilly, Vince Vaughn, Denzel Washington, Christopher Walken, Bruce Willis, Owen Wilson and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

So far, the only celebs expressing interest in participating are Affleck, Bruel, Bono, Tilly, Fishburne, Garcia, Hoffman and Hayek.

In order to guarantee that all tournament participants will take home something for his or her charity, the prize money breakdown will be as follows: 1st place-$500,000; 2nd place-$175,000; 3rd place-$100,000; 4th place-$75,000; 5th place-$50,000; 6th place-$30,000; 7th place-$25,000; 8th place-$20,000; 9th place-$15,000; 10th place-$10,000.

The event will be hosted by Canadian poker pro Daniel Negreanu, and is scheduled to be televised in the U.S. in June on CBS.

So what are the odds of hitting a royal flush of hearts?

“About one chance out of 260,000,” said one of the event organizers. “We are going to play a maximum of 260 hands, therefore, our players will have approximately one chance out of 1,000 to hit the jackpot.

“This is not bad if you compare it to some other games,” he said. “For example, you have one chance out of 75 million to win the Euro Million, one chance out of 52 million to win the U.S. Power Ball and one chance out of 45 million to win the French Lottery.

“You have a better chance to win our grand prize than to win a jackpot in any casino in the world. So let’s face it, the odds are more in favor of this game’s guest players and they are pretty good odds.”

For more information about the event, visit www.gameofthecentury.org.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)