When Actors Try To Play Poker

6 years ago
When Actors Try To Play Poker
12:56
19 Apr

(Photo: Vanityfair.com)

There is nothing quite like seeing a celebrity having a go at the game we all love, and actors are one of the biggest groups to think they have what it takes to make it big in poker – until they come crashing down to Earth and realize that having fame and fortune means nothing when the deck runs cold!


Ray Romano - Run Bad Ray

Everybody loves Raymond. Except that it, the dealers at the WSOP, who have a bad habit of making sure Ray Romano never makes it to the money –helped of course by the fact that, although he’s a funny guy, he’s just not that good at poker!

The following clip from 2010 pretty much sums up his ability and luck – so it’s great for Ray that his acting career has been a big hit.


Of course, it’s not always bad news for the stars of the big and little screens. Just ask…


James Woods - Casino legend

Jimmy boy is in a different league from Ray - in both acting poker - the Oscar-nominated Hollywood legend of movies such as Salvador, Casino and Once Upon a Time in America having several good cashes to his name, in WPT and WSOP events no less…

One of his biggest highlights was toppling Doug Polk in the 2015 WSOP $3000 Shootout event, the high-stakes pro commenting afterwards that:

"Just because you're the best, doesn't mean you never lose. They're still chips, it's still poker. He played well, and he deserved to win today."

Naturally I’m not going to share Woods’ good play though. Instead…


Tobey Maguire - The Ego has Landed

Some actors who dabble in the poker world just can’t seem to leave their stardom at the cardroom door, and the former Spider-Man star is one of them, despite having a decent record when it comes to cashes.

His horrible behaviour portrayed in the book version of Molly Bloom’s high-stakes underground games, which will soon be hitting the big screen as Molly’s Game, he is described as “the best player and the worst tipper,” and even charged rent for the ShuffleMaster machine, which apparently he bought to prove his winning sessions were not the result of dodgy-dealing!

It came back to bite him, though, when he and others in the game were sued, as the following short report explains…


Ben Affleck Trips at the table

Along with Matt Damon, Leonardo Di Caprio and our recently-visited Tobey Maguire, Affleck was another one of the modern-day Hollywood bratpack who found poker at the height of its boom in the early to mid-noughties – and the self-confessed ‘obsessive’ took to it like a duck to water.

With only one – huge – cash to his name from back in 2004 when he took down the California State Championships for over $350,000, it was mainly the high-stake underground games which attracted Affleck, as well as most other forms of gambling, rumours that this was the reason behind his divorce from Jennifer Garner.

To see what happens to both Affleck and his best friend Damon when they meet the world’s best players, check out this next clip…



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Andrew from Edinburgh, Scotland, is a professional journalist, international-titled chess master, and avid poker player.Read more

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