By Brad "Otis" Willis

From an outsider's perspective, it might appears as though poker players do nothing but take, take, take. Recently, PokerStars players have shown they can give just as well.

Over the past several weeks, PokerStars and its players gave their hard-earned money to Life Ball 2008 to the tune of more than €150,000. Life Ball is Europe's largest annual charity event and is dedicated to the fight against AIDS. It took place at the historic Vienna City Hall on May 17 2008. More than 40,000 people attended the opening ceremony, one which included an appearance from Sharon Stone and a fashion show from Agent Provocateur.

PokerStars' Life Ball freerolls saw more than 190,000 entries and thousands of dollars in donations. All of the money and PokerStars' donations will now go toward the fight against AIDS.

With PokerStars as a sponsor, there was little doubt what would happen at this year's event. After the opening ceremony around 4000 ticket holders moved into the Vienna City Hall to celebrate life under this year's Life Ball theme "Love is infinite. Life is universal." As one of the main sponsors, PokerStars hosted a poker lounge in the Vienna City Hall. Life Ball guests and local celebrities played charity poker until the early morning hours.

Since the first Life Ball in 1993, AIDS Life has raised millions of dollars for AIDS charities and has helped educate the world about those suffering from the disease.