The World Series of Poker Main Event has always been the premier event for poker fans to watch the stars in action. Nearly every poker legend puts his $10,000 on the line in an attempt to scale poker’s Mount Everest and win the World Series of Poker Main Event.
However, the task of pushing through crowds of players in the hopes of winning a multi-million-dollar payday is not limited to poker celebrities. For decades, celebrities have dabbled in poker, and big names like Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Don Cheadle, and Ray Romano have all been seen in the game.
Many celebrities have attempted to cash in on the main event, but the majority have failed. However, a few others have put their professions on hold for a few days and accepted the grind to be caught up in the money bubble.
Here are some of the renowned celebrities that have participated in the World Series of Poker and had some spectacular results.
Kevin Pollak
Actor and comedian Kevin Pollak, best renowned for his impersonation of Christopher Walken, has been playing poker since he was a child. The poker bug did not truly bite him until he earned a role in Martin Scorsese’s 1995 masterpiece, Casino.
During the 20-week production, Pollack claims he gained his genuine education in poker by sitting at several poker tables around town during his break.
Pollack didn’t play his first main event until 2012, even though he was addicted. He not only made it into the event, but he also became a focal point of ESPN’s coverage, clashing on the broadcast feature table with poker players Chance Kornuth and Daniel Negreanu.
Despite playing against some of the best players in the world, Pollak’s exhibition went on until Day 5. Things were looking great until he spotted a fantastic place in the center, holding pocket queens, to earn his final chips.
The only issue was that he ran across Krill Rabtsov, who had pocket queens as well. What appeared to be a chop transformed into Pollak’s last hand when the board assisted his opponent in hitting the unexpected flush. Pollak’s incredible journey culminated in 134th position and $52,718 in prize money. It’s the only cash he’s ever received.
He even video blogged about his experience, long before blogging became popular in the poker world.
Sully Erna
Salvatore “Sully” Erna, who has previously competed in the main event, certainly looked like any other poker player in the field during the 2007 main event. After all, he wasn’t known for his appearance.
Erna is the gravel-voiced lead singer of Godsmack, a heavy metal band that has received four Grammy nominations, three Billboard Top 200 number one albums, and the Rock Artist of the Year award at the 2001 Billboard Music Awards.
Even though Godsmack’s career was still in fantastic shape, Erna looked to be shifting towards taking his poker game very seriously. During his 2007 run, Erna stated that he was a regular poker player who felt he had a good game and was able to use his reads on the felt well. He hoped to better his 2006 finish, which netted him more than $17,000. He achieved just that, finishing in 237th place for $45,422.
Months later, at the 2007 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, the “I Stand Alone” singer showed his mettle by coming second in the $5K tournament to JC Tran for a total of almost $307,000.
Tobey Maguire
Tobey Maguire, one of the most feared players in the Hollywood Home Games and the target of Molly Bloom’s wrath, has a well-known appetite for the game of poker.
Maguire, an A-list actor known for roles in Pleasantville, Seabiscuit, and, of course, the original Spider-Man trilogy, had been playing poker for a long time.
The calculating Maguire had earned a series of five-figure scores leading up to his appearance in the 2007 WSOP Main Event. He was reportedly the best grinder in any given game in Tinseltown.
It wasn’t Maguire’s first appearance in the main event, but it was his most successful, much like Erna’s. Erna and Maguire found themselves playing shoulder to shoulder in the hopes of climbing the pay scales and making it to the finals.
When Maguire’s pocket kings collided with O’Dea’s pocket aces, Maguire was unable to survive a confrontation with Irish poker great Donnacha O’Dea. The hand crippled the wall-crawler, and Maguire finally exited the Main Event in 292nd place for $39,445.
Maguire was said to have gotten $15 million for Spider-Man 3, which was released the same year.
Sam Simon
The Simpsons’ co-creator wasn’t only a gifted showrunner. Before his death in 2015, Simon was a terrific card player, according to friends and other poker enthusiasts. After learning the game from his granddad, Simon went on to conduct his poker parties as an adult.
His persistent practice eventually improved his abilities to the point that he was able to make a series of successful WSOP appearances. His WSOP victories totaled over $144,000 in his lifetime, which was a pleasant boost to his television earnings.
Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly is a comic femme fatale who has starred in several films. However, the actress, who has appeared in films such as Chucky and Liar Liar, is also a skilled poker player. Tilly won the WSOP Ladies No-Limit Hold’em tournament in 2005.
She has now been in numerous professional poker tournaments and has even won a WSOP bracelet. Tilly attributes her success to her acting talents, which she uses to mask her tells, her good looks, which she uses to distract others; and her training partner, professional poker player Phil Laak. Tilly has won more than $1 million in live poker events thus far.
Conclusion
Making it to a high-stakes poker tournament is amazing in and of itself, but the fact that these celebs did so despite their hectic schedules is even more so.
Celebrity poker players add another layer of talent and stardom to the world of professional poker tournaments, even if none of them are making poker legends like Phil Ivey or Daniel Negreanu want to fold.
