Female Celebrity Poker Players: Are They Any Good?

by Bodog Poker | Dec 4 2008

As poker has risen in popularity among the masses it’s found an equal footing in Hollywood. Of course, there has always been the old guard of Tinseltown who have had connections with Vegas and consequently poker but a new generation of Hollywood poker players have sprung up more recently with plenty of A-listers making the rounds.

Among the female celebrity poker players are both: novices who just love the occasional home game and full on poker pros who have all but abandoned their acting careers for poker. While the main focus of this article is on the two women who have made the biggest commitment to poker, we also follow up with the ladies of Hollywood who have demonstrated a healthy interest in the game.

Jennifer Tilly

Born on September 16th, 1958 in Harbor City, California, Jennifer Tilly soon moved to British Columbia, Canada after her parents divorced. She took to acting early in her life with a focus on the theatre. She later made a name for herself in the film industry with her breakthrough role as a singing waitress in the Fabulous Baker Boys in 1989. Five years later she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway.

While Tilly has continued to act she has definitely shifted her focus to poker, playing the tournament circuit and entrenching herself deeper into the poker culture. She is currently dating Phil “The Unabomber” Laak.

Her confidence must have soared after 2005 as that was the year that she won both a WSOP bracelet in the Ladies' No-Limit Texas Holdem event, beating a field of 600 and g the third World Poker Tour Ladies Invitational Tournament. Since then she has continued to make decent cashed but nothing as significant as her 2005 performances.

Shannon Elizabeth

Shannon Elizabeth began her career as a model before getting parts in some smaller films before carving a niche in America’s psyche with he role as the sexy exchange student Nadia in American Pie. A role in which she had a topless scene, perhaps something she was comfortable with since she’d already posed nude in a 1999 issue of Playboy.

In 2006 Elizabeth began bolstering her somewhat mediocre film career by playing poker regularly which she described as her “second career”. She played in the 2005 WSOP Main event but didn’t cash. Elizabeth started to find her game early in 2006 though when, while sponsored by Bodog, she won Nicky Hilton’s New Year’s Eve Celebrity Poker Tournament and the $55,000 that went with it. She then went on to cash three times at the 2006 WSOP. Her biggest, and by far most impressive cash, came in 2007 when, to the world’s surprise, she placed third in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship for $125,000. The players she beat out to get to the semi-finals included three World Series of Poker multiple bracelet winners: Jeff Madsen, Barry Greenstein, and Humberto Brenes.

Elizabeth didn’t make much of a mark on 2008 with either acting or poker. Hopefully 2009 will hold more success for her.

Poker as a Pastime

Cheryl Hines

Best known for her role as Cheryl David in Larry David’s HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, Cheryl Hines is a regular at poker charity tournaments and poker TV shows.

Lauren Graham

Lauren Graham is definitely best known as the beautiful and fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore from the TV series the Gilmore Girls. She’s also an avid poker player who proved herself by winning game four of the Celebrity Poker Showdown and taking second place in the final tournament.

Sarah Silverman

Sarah Silverman has appeared on Celebrity Poker Showdown twice and although she played well she was knocked out both times. Silverman is an avid poker player and is a regular in a home game with actor Paul Rudd.

Silverman’s career has gone from writing on Saturday Night Live, acting on Mr. Show with Bob and David, appearing in such movies as, "There's Something About Mary,” and "The School of Rock" to having her own show, The Sarah Silverman Program and ultimately, to the greatest heights a starlet could aspire to, sleeping with Matt Damon.

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