Celebrities Who Play Poker
poker undeniable is one of the most popular and favorite game of millions
including many celebrities. And though usually
a quite big amount of cash is at stake
people have a few other reasons than playing for the money exclusively. Poker is a game of strategy that requires skills honed over time. And it is not an easy game to win. Here are some of the notable celebrity poker players of our time:
Ben Affleck won the 2004 World Poker Tour $10
000 tournament held in Commerce Casino
California with his winnings totaled $356
400. He had to credit pro Annie Duke as his mentor for his wonderful poker career. He stars in blockbuster films such as DareDevil
Saving Private Ryan
and Armageddon.
Gabe Kaplan is a well-known actor and comedian
before he turned pro. His professional poker career which started in the ’70s has reached more than $1 million in tournament winnings. He also hosted the TV show “High-stakes poker”.
Tobey Maguire of “Spiderman” is probably one of the strongest celebrity poker players today. And he was well commended by poker star Phil Hellmuth by winning first place in the 2004 Phil Hellmuth Invitational in LA
worth $95
480 held at Holywood Park Casino. He was also quoted cashing in the World Series Poker winning over $10 million in prizes.
Elizabeth Shannon is one of the actress-pro poker players today. She appeared on the Celebrity Poker Showdown
and also joined in several World tournaments. She won the 2005 Nicky Hilton’s Poker Tournament
won 6th place in Calvin Klein’s Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament
and one of the final four in 2007 NBC Championship. She was one of the cast in the films American Pie 1 & 2 and Scary Movie.
Laura Prepon usually plays in Hollywood home games and LA casinos and even hosted the TV show “Hollywood Hold’em”. She’s best known in the “That 70′s show” sitcom.
Matt Damon
2007′s “Sexiest Man Alive” by People magazine
is also an avid poker player
mentored by pro Phil Hellmuth
and plays poker in major tournaments too with his friend Affleck. He plays Jason Bourne in the “Bourne” trilogy.
Jennifer Tilly is one of the most notable female poker player celebrities around. She won the 2 major titles in 2005 – World Series of Poker’s Ladies Event and World Poker Tour’s Ladies Night Invitational. She’s the voice behind Monster Inc.’s Celia
and Family Guy’s Bonnie. She’s also an Oscar nominee for the film Bullets Over Broadway.
Jason Alexander plays George Costanza role in the popular Seinfeld comedy series. He won 1st place
winning $500
000 in the final tournament of Bravo network’s game show Celebrity Poker Showdown
a televised poker tournament where celebrities get to showcase their poker skills and play for charity. The prize pool which started from $250
000 to $1 million dollar in the 7 tournament series aired 2004-2005. Among the season winners too are Nicole Sullivan
Maura Tierney
Seth Meyers
Brad Garrett
Kathy Najimy
and Steven Culp.
