Poker Faces Of Hollywood

Poker is a game that has been popular in Hollywood for years. Movie stars are regularly spotted at the tables in Vegas, playing in televised celebrity poker games and even making the occasional appearance on the professional poker circuit. Many actors are known to play during downtime while shooting films and stories of the underground Hollywood poker scene are legendary.

If there were five seats to be filled with movie stars at a poker table in Hollywood, this is who might be invited.

Tobey Maguire

You know you’ve earned some serious street cred as a poker player when you find yourself wrapped up in a litigation lawsuit as Maguire did back in 2011. The Spider-man hero knows how to slink around the underground Hollywood poker scene where his winnings are rumoured to be in the millions. Maguire has also gone mainstream with his cards and has played in the World Series of Poker.

Ben Affleck

Recently banned from the blackjack tables for counting cards at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas, Affleck is also an accomplished poker player. He won the California State Poker Championship in 2004, taking home $356,000, and he has sought out tutoring from poker professionals to improve his game.

Jennifer Tilly

Tilly, of the Chucky series fame, has over 70 film credits—including playing herself in the 2006 flick “The Poker Movie.” In 2005 she won a World Series of Poker bracelet and $158,000 in the Ladies’ No-Limit Hold ’em tournament. Tilly has won over $785,000 in live tournament poker and is linked to the game in several other ways as well. Tilly writes a regular column for poker publication Bluff Magazine. And since 2005, Tilly has been in a relationship with Phil Laak, a renowned player who most recently went up against some of the best in the seventh episode of Premier League Poker 7.

James Woods

The star of over 70 films has cashed over $96,000 in live tournament play including nearly $40,000 in the 2006 L.A. Poker Classic as part of the World Poker Tour. James Woods has an endorsement with an online poker site where he contributes content and he has co-hosted live coverage of poker tournaments.

Shannon Elizabeth

Elizabeth is best known as the sexy foreign exchange student from the American Pie series. But Elizabeth can turn heads at the poker table as well. She has cashed four times in the World Series of Poker with career winnings north of $219,000, including $125,000 at the 2007 National Heads up Poker Championship, where she finished tied for third. In 2006, Shannon Elizabeth teamed with Tilly in a fundraising event featuring some of the top female players in the country.

If this game of poker-playing movie stars ever happened, I’d be all in as a spectator.