13 Famous Celebrities that Loved To Play Poker

Celebrities that Play Poker

The celebrities that I’m going to mention need not need any introduction. All of these guys are super famous and are known all over the world. But these guys had a hobby or passion which you guys didn’t know. Yes, all of the celebrities that I mention in this article loves to play poker and have taken part in Poker tournaments.

Some of the celebrities are Hollywood actors while some are Sports celebrities. Some of these celebrities have even taken poker as their career now after retiring from either sports or as an acting career.

So let’s get straight into the list of celebrities that loved playing poker.

Shannon Elizabeth

Shannon Elizabeth is an American Actress and a former fashion model. She has acted in many movies and TV Series but started to get recognized and become famous after she appeared in the American Pie movie series. She currently lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

Now coming back to her Poker career, She has taken part in the main event of World Series of Poker in 2005. She has also won the tournament held in Caesars Palace hotel in 2006, by defeating 83 other celebrities and poker professionals and won $ 55,000 as the prize money.

In 2006, Shannon Said that after acting, Poker is her second Career and she was called one of the leading celebrities of poker players. She has even advanced to the semi-finals of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship before losing to the winner of that tournament.

Elizabeth after 2010 was not as active in playing cash tournaments in Poker. She has only taken part in 1 cash tournament in 2013 thereafter.

Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal is one of those celebrities that doesn’t need an introduction. He is one of the biggest celebrities in Sports. He is the current World Number 2 in Tennis and is known as the King of Clay where he has won 12 Roland Garros titles. He has won a total of 18 grand slams title just 2 behind of Roger Federer.

Rafa’s hobby included playing poker and he absolutely loved playing it. In 2014 Rafa played against the number one female poker player Vanessa Selbst in Monaco.

Nadal’s tweet for the same:

Rafael Nadal has also said that he plays poker in his home with his family and friends whenever he gets free time.

Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck is an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He lives in Los Angeles, California, U.S. He has won an Oscar for his role in the movie “Argo”. He is also known worldwide for portraying the famous DC character, Batman.

Along with the acting career, he is also well-known for playing poker. He has won the California State Poker Championship in 2004 winning $356,000 and qualifying for the World Series of Poker during that year. Affleck has won about $500,000 in face-to-face tournament cash and regularly takes part in high stakes cash games.

Neymar Jr

Neymar Jr a superstar in football, is known in all parts of the world. He was born in Brazil and became recognised at a very young age when he was picked up by FC Barcelona club. He has scored many goals since then and has become one of the most popular football stars of all time. He currently plays for French club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

Neymar has admitted that along with football, he enjoys playing poker and competing in poker tournaments. Neymar has made his appearances in the World Series of Poker and also Europian Poker Tournament Barcelona.

Jason Alexander

Jason Alexander is an American actor, voice actor, singer, comedian, and director. Alexander is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series Seinfeld.

Alexander is known for playing poker. He has taken part in televised poker and other poker tournaments. He has also won $500,000 prize in poker for his charity. He has also played the 2007 World Series of Poker. He has also has signed with the PokerStars and plays for them under the screen name J. Alexander.

Alexander has appeared twice on Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown, winning the final table of the 8th season. He has also been placed 6th in the NBC’s Poker after the dark TV show.

Kevin Hart

Kevin Hart is an American Actor, Stand-up Comedian, and producer. He is known to play comedy roles in the movies and genuinely a good actor.  He has also won several awards for both actings and stand up comedy. He has performed stand up comedy shows all over the world.

Kevin surprised everyone by taking part in the Bahamas Poker tournament in 2017. He later took part in Monte Carlo tournaments and announced his partnership with PokerStars. He has also played a lot of high roller poker tournaments on the world circuit.

Matt Damon

Matt Damon is an American Actor, Producer, and screenwriter. He is ranked on the Forbes most Bankable Stars. He has acted in many movies and has also won a lot of awards. He has also won the Oscar for Good Will Hunting movie. He has also starred in the Jason Bourne movie series which became a super hit and his career just took off from then on.

In terms of his Poker career, he has competed in the World Series of Poker tournaments including the 2010 Main event of World Series of Poker. He has inspired many in order to take Poker as a career choice. Even though he wasn’t the best out there, he did pretty well in 2010 When he made it to the main event of WSOP.

Jennifer Tilly

Jennifer Telly is an American-Canadian actress and a voice actress. She has received numerous awards for her acting. She has stated that at one point that she loved playing poker more than acting.

Jennifer Telly is one of those celebrities who is known more of a poker player rather than an Actor. She is also the first celebrity to win a World Series Of Poker Bracelet beating 600 other players in 2005. She has also been placed 3rd at the World Poker tour Individual tournament at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles.

Tilly appeared in the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions 2007 Edition video game that was released in 2007 by Activision.

Similar: Top Casinos to play poker 

Michael Philips

Michael Phelps is an American retired competitive swimmer and the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time, with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16).

Phelps was introduced to poker when he was roommates with one of the professional poker player Jeff Gross. Phelps has taken part in tournaments in the Bahamas as well as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. His best result was a 5th place finish in the No-limit hold’em poker tournament in 2008 at the Caesars Palace.

Since his Swimming career is over now, he might play more poker tournaments in the future.

Victoria Coren Mitchell

Victoria Coren Mitchell is an American writer as well as a presenter. Coren Mitchell writes weekly columns for The Observer and has hosted the BBC television quiz show Only Connect since 2008.

Victoria is also known for playing poker and is regarded as one of the best female celebrities of all time. She was the first woman to win an event on the European Poker Tour, the first player to win both a televised professional tournament (EPT London 2006) and a televised celebrity tournament (Celebrity Poker Club 2005), and the first player to win two European Poker Tour Main Events (EPT London 2006 and EPT Sanremo 2014).

She has also appeared in the Late Night Poker TV show. Her biggest win was the main event of the European Poker Tour London when she took home £500,000 after defeating Australian professional Emad Tahtouh.

In total, she has won over $2.4 million through live tournament play. She was also inducted into the women in the Poker hall of fame in 2016.

Sam  Simon

Samuel Michael Simon was an American director, producer, writer, animal rights activist and philanthropist, who co-developed the television series The Simpsons.

Simon was introduced to poker very young through weekly family poker games and casino visits with his grandfather. Simon competed in the WSOP tournaments from 2007 to 2011. He has won many small tournaments in poker.

His biggest win in terms of both field size and prize money was the $200 1,082-player No-Limit Hold’em $150,000 Guarantee at the 2010 Winnin O’ The Green, where he won $57,308.

Teddy Sheringham

Edward Paul Sheringham, MBE is an English football manager and former player. Sheringham began his career at Millwall, where he scored 111 goals between 1983 and 1991 and is the club’s second all-time leading scorer.

While in Poker, Sheringham finished fourteenth in the World Series of Poker Main Event and won $40,481 in 2009. He then finished 388th in the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2012 and won $28,530.

However, his most impressive display at the poker table came in 2010 when, from a field of 384 entrants, he managed to reach the final table of the European Poker Tour Main Event in Vilamoura. He finished fifth in the end to win €93,121.

Jean Robert Bellande

Jean Robert Bellande is a reality TV contestant, and a nightclub owner and a promoter.

Bellande first gained public exposure during a World Series of Poker circuit event in March 2005. He finished 3rd, behind Doug Lee and Jennifer Harman, winning $210,900. A week later, he defeated John Phan to win first prize in the 2005 Winnin’ O’ the Green tournament and take home $148,000.

At the 2018 World Series of Poker, Bellande won his first World Series of Poker bracelet and $ 616,302. His live earnings in Poker is over $2.5 million.

These were some of the famous celebrities that loved playing poker and won a lot of money.

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