Poker is a very popular game. There are almost 60 million poker players in the world, with Texas hold’em is the most popular type of poker. Many celebrities are also fond of playing poker, and this article will examine five famous people who love playing this game.
Ben Affleck
Affleck has been around poker for quite some time. In 1998, his friend Matt Damon prepared for the shootings in Rounders and took the relevant lessons. Ben trained with renowned poker pros Amir Vahedi and Annie Duke. Most often, Affleck participates in various Hollywood poker tournaments with the participation of stars, the winnings from which go to charity.
There is a significant success in Affleck’s busy career, which poker pros will envy: in 2004, Ben won the California State Poker Championships with a buy-in of $10,000 and received $356,400! But at the WSOP 2009, he was less fortunate
Matt Damon
In the abovementioned Rounders, Matt’s hero Mike McDermott can ingeniously read his opponents. Johnny Chan, a member of the Poker Hall of Fame, spent a long time with the Hollywood star. Rumors say that getting accustomed to the role, Damon lost more than $25,000 at the WSOP. In addition, the release of the movie raised poker to at least one more level of popularity in the States.
Like his friend Affleck, Damon has a history of gambling with huge stakes. At the same WSOP, Matt went further than Affleck but still did not get to the prizes.
It is not a surprise that most casinos choose celebrities as an ‘icon’ for the website to further encourage other players to join them. This was the case in Australian casinos, and Playamo online casino was also considering the selection of celebrities to promote their bonuses or casino games. However, they could not manage to do it as they faced, refusal from the stars themselves.
Michael Phelps
23-time Olympic champion and 26-time world champion – just think about these numbers! Michael admitted that one of the ways to escape from the hardships of big sports for him is poker. He regarded the game at tables mainly as entertainment. At one time, he was given lessons by Jeff Gross, Doyle Brunson, and Phil Hellmuth – with the latter, Michael generally has a fairly friendly relationship.
Several times Phelps participated in the WSOP, and in 2012, after the London Olympics, he raised about $100,000 in a cash game in a Vegas casino.
It’s funny that for the speed shown in the pool, Michael is often called fish. He does everything possible so as not to be called a fish at the tables.
Andriy Shevchenko
During his football career, the Ukrainian has scored poker against the rivals several times. World fame helped him sign an advertising contract with PokerStars. “In poker, as in football, you need to use a strategy and have good playing skills. To play poker well, you need to learn many disciplines – psychology, tactics, and others,” Shevchenko says.
Several times Shevchenko participated in the charity EPT Charity Challenge along with Ronaldo, Daniel Negreanu, and Rafael Nadal.
Kevin Hart
Hart became famous as a comedian from Scary Movie and Central Intelligence. And if the Oscar actor hardly shines his role, then in poker he is one of the best among celebrities. He recently joined Team PokerStars Pro. “I saw what poker is missing – and it is missing me!” With such a bold statement, the owner of 36 million Twitter followers joined PS.
Now he often plays in super-high roller tournaments with buy-ins of $100,000-$300,000. There are no prizes so far (Kevin’s financial back is definitely not bad), but there are local victories – Kevin has managed to beat Hellmuth and Fedor Holz in the tournaments.
