Poker Celebrities Mad Marty Wilson Celebrity 10

Poker Celebrities Mad Marty Wilson Celebrity 10

Marty Wilson better known as Mad Marty Wilson is an English professional poker player from Wolverhampton. His nickname (Mad Marty Wilson) originates from when, as a teenager, he escaped several rival football fans by madly jumping into a polar bear pit.

Mad Marty Wilsons extensive poker career dates back to 1985 with a World Series of Poker visit. He first grabbed the public's attention by finishing runner-up in the £300 Pot Limit Hold'em event at the Victoria Casino in London.

After his win Mad Marty become a regular on the Late Night Poker television series, being one of few players to appear in every series. His only win on the series was in his heat during series 3, where he defeated the field to get his seat in the Grand Final. He went on to finish 4th in the Final, which was eventually won by Phil Hellmuth Jr. Mad Marty Wilson's biggest win ever came in 1998, when he won the Carnival of Poker tournament at the Rio, taking home $171,000.00.

After quite a few more wins Mad Marty Wilson won the No Limit Hold-Em tournament at the Crown Australasian Poker Championship in Melbourne in 2004 He defeated a final table including Peter "The Poet" Costa, "Barmy" Barny Boatman and "Cowboy" Kenna James. He returned to the Crown Championship in 2005, taking the Pot Limit Omaha title as well.

In addition to playing tournaments, Marty is also a consultant for Matchroom Sports, the Floor Manager for the PartyPoker Den and an online player for NoblePoker. Although these could have changed since the time I wrote this article.

He has also taught several celebrities how to play poker, including Matthew Stevens, Barry Hearn, Phil "The Power" Taylor,Tom Cruise, Michael Greco and Helen Chamberlain (who went on to place second in the 2005 Poker Million tournament).

Mad Marty Wilson's total live tournament winnings exceed $4,000,000.00.

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Poker Celebrities Lou Diamond Phillips Celebrity 9

Poker Celebrities Lou Diamond Phillips Celebrity 9

Lou Diamond Phillips was born on February 17th, 1962. He was born Lou Diamond Upchurch, adopting the name Phillips from his step father. Lou is a Filipino-American television, film and stage actor. He was probably first noticed by the world in a big way for his role in La Bamba. He earned a supporting actor Golden Globe Award nomination for his role in Stand and Deliver and an Award nomination for his role in The King and I.

Outside of acting Lou Diamond Phillips has turned to a deck of cards and the game of poker. He has had some outstanding results including finishing in the top 3% of the field in the 2009 World Series of Poker World Championships No Limit Texas hold 'em main event. He was the last celebrity poker player left standing in the event. Due to this fact he was given more attention then any other extra-curriculum poker player.

Lou Diamond Phillips start playing poker in college with his friends. When he started his first movie La Bamba and moved to Los Angeles near his friends and co-stars, he would apparently have a weekly poker game. Today he plays celebrity poker games with actors such as Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Jason Priestley at his home. It has been said that Lou plays poker at least two times in any given month.

It can be expected that Lou Diamond Phillips will be playing in each and every World Series of Poker main event. He stated to numerous people that he had experienced the best week of his life during it. Although he may have had a brief step off the acting stage to the felt; playing in the World Series of Poker is something he stated to numerous people, something he had wanted to do for 5 years.

Lou Diamond Phillips was originally a 7 Card Stud and 5 card draw player, Texas Holdem now sinking into his system.

Phillips plays on the World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games whenever they are on.

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Poker Celebrities Edward Giddins Celebrity 7

Poker Celebrities Edward Giddins Celebrity 7

Edward Simon Hunter Giddins better known as Edward Giddens was born 20 July 1971 in Eastbourne, Sussex. Edward is a former English cricketer who played in four tests from 1999 to 2000. Giddins played for four counties during his career Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire, and.

Edward Giddins' career was full of controversy. In 1996 he was sacked by Sussex because of drug offences and was banned from cricket for 18 months. Almost seven years later he was fined £5000, plus £1000 costs, and was banned from cricket for a further five years after being found guilty of placing a £7000 bet on his own side (at the time) Surrey, to lose their County Championship game.

He has recently turned to poker to earn his living and has appeared on the poker chat show Heads Up with Richard Herring to discuss this career.

Edward Giddens has cashed in 16 big tournaments to date with total winnings of $81,676.00. He has only had one first place finish.

Edward Giddens Poker Tournament Career Wins include the following:

• SpringFest No Limit Hold'em - 9th $2,456 Apr 11, 2007

• Sussex Masters No Limit Hold'em - 1st $18,747 Apr 5, 2007

• Sussex Masters No Limit Hold'em - 5th $1,968 Apr 4, 2007

• Dom Classics 2007 No Limit Hold'em - 6th $3,404 Jan 25, 2007

• Summer Shaker Event #1 - Pot Limit Hold'em - 2nd $3,149 Aug 14, 2006

• The Summer FestivalNo Limit Hold'em -3rd $6,580 May 23, 2006

• Celeb Poker Dublin Classic No Limit Hold'em - 4th $4,587 May 13, 2006

• Sussex Masters Pot Limit Hold'em - 2nd $3,665 Apr 10, 2006

• Midlands Medley Pot Limit Hold'em - 2nd $7,686 Feb 26, 2006

• Midlands Medley No Limit Hold'em - 3rd $11,811 Feb 22, 2006

• Christmas Cracker Tournament No Limit Hold'em - 2nd $5,812 Dec 13, 2005

• European Poker Championships No Limit Hold'em - 12th $656 Aug 7, 2005

• January Sales Pot Limit Hold'em - 10th $375 Jan 28, 2005

• Christmas Cracker Tournament No Limit Hold'em - 5th $6,749 Dec 4, 2004

• Southampton Poker Festival Pot Limit Hold'em - 10th $469 Nov 1, 2004

• Harbour Lights Poker Tournament Pot Limit Hold'em - 5th $3,562 Oct 29, 2004

It is unknown as to whether Edward plays or wins a lot of ring/cash games but it is assumed he does pretty well in them considering his placings in the above poker tournaments.

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Poker Celebrities Chris Money Maker Celebrity 7

Poker Celebrities Chris Money Maker Celebrity 7

The next poker celebrity to be listed on my blog is Christopher Bryan Moneymaker, better known as Chris Money Maker. He was born on November 21^st, 1975 in Atlanta.

Chris is an American poker player who won the main event at the 2003 World Series of Poker. His victory is known to have been a victory that was one of the main boosts for the poker boom in the years following. This win has been called by many; the "Moneymaker Effect".

Moneymaker attended High School Tennessee and he continued his study to obtain a master's degree in accounting from the University of Tennessee.

Chris Moneymaker has an autobiography, Moneymaker: How an Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 into $2.5 Million at the World Series of Poker. Hi autobiography was published in 2005. He also has made an official website promoting poker stars as an official poker stars pro.

Basically Chris Money Makers story is told to the world in a simple form. In 2003, Chris entered a $39 satellite on PokerStars and won. This gave him a seat in a larger satellite, one that had a World Series Main Event package up for grabs. Chris also won this tournament, and headed off to Las Vegas to play in what was to be his first live tournament. Against all odds, Chris made it to the final table and went on to claim the gold bracelet, winning prize money of $2,500,000.00.

When Chris Moneymaker is not busy travelling the world on the professional poker circuit, he spends most of his free time with family. When he gets the chance, Chris likes playing a range of sports, especially football, golf and basketball.

Since the WSOP Chris Money Makers poker road has definitely not ended. He has since cashed quite a few times; nothing however compares to being the World Series of Poker Champion. The following are further “career highlights”:

2003 WSOP $10,000 Main Event May 2003 1st$ 2,500,000

WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars $5,500 Main Event March 2004 2^nd $200,000

2004 WSOP $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha May 2004 10^th $21,000

EPT London £5,200 No Limit Hold’em September 2007 17^th $24,480

PokerStars WCOOP $10,300 No Limit Hold’em September 2008 6^th $139,635

Chris Moneymakers name emphasizes his credibility in the poker world. Many people think he is called “Moneymaker” due to his victory. It has been spoken that Chris Moneymaker has been asked the same question over and over: “Is that your real name?”.

Please note there have been further results and triumphs since writing this post.

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Poker Celebrities Chris Jesus Ferguson Celebrity 6

Poker Celebrities Chris Jesus Ferguson Celebrity 6

Poker Celebrity Christopher Philip Ferguson better known in the world of poker as Chris “Jesus” Ferguson was born on April 11th 1963). Chris is known as “Jesus” due to his long hair and his very gentleman like manner. Chris Ferguson has an Ivy League degree in game theory. He is also a champion ballroom dancer.

In his poker tournament career Chris Ferguson has won five World Series of Poker bracelets, including the bracelet for the 2000 WSOP Main Event He was also the winner of the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Chris “Jesus” Ferguson was playing poker before the age of 10. In college he played poker for play money in chat rooms. In 1994, he began playing in tournaments in California and in 1995, he entered his first World Series of Poker tournament. Ferguson's main event win in the 2000 World Series Of Poker earned him a nice $1.5 million prize. In 2004, he made another deep run in the WSOP main event, earning $120,000 for his 26th place finish out of 2,576 players. Also in 2004, Ferguson helped launch the now giant online poker site Full Tilt Poker.

Ferguson finished in second place to Phil Hellmuth in the 2005 National Heads-Up Poker Championship. In 2006 he again made the finals, but like the previous year again finished second, this time to Ted Forrest. In 2008 (as mentioned above) Chris Ferguson played the event for the third time, but on this occasion won; defeating Andy Bloch and taking down the National Heads-Up Poker Championship title. He has had the most wins in the four-year period of the tournament, with an overall match record of 16-3.

As of 2009, Chris Jesus Ferguson's total live tournament winnings exceed $7,800,000. His 59 World Series of Poker cashes account for $4,031,499 of those winnings. He is currently 3^rd in the listings of all time cashing s at the WSOP behind Phil Helmuth and Men Nguyen.

Chris Ferguson is very well known amongst the poker community abroad for turning $1.00 into $20,000.00. Another thing to attach the name Chris Ferguson to that of Jesus whom apparently turned water into wine.

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Poker Celebrities Chevy Chase Celebrity 5

Poker Celebrities Chevy Chase Celebrity 5

Poker Celebrity Cornelius Crane Chase most commonly known as Chevy Chase was born on October 8, 1943. Chevy Chase is an American Emmy Award-winning comedian, writer, and television and film actor. Chevy Chase worked as a professional musician as well as quite a few other jobs before moving towards comedy and working with the National Lampoon.

Chase quickly became a key cast member of Saturday Night Live. His weekend update skit became more then popular on the show. Chevy Chase is well known for his role in four National Lampoon's Vacation films and his roles in other successful comedies such as the 1980 film Caddyshack, Fletch in 1985, and The Three Amigos in 1986.

Chevy Chase has also hosted the Academy Awards twice, he briefly hosted his own show (The Chevy Chase Show), and is a regular on the NBC comedy series Community.

It has not all been smooth sailing for Chevy Chase. In January 2007 Chase told the world of his treatment for addiction to pain killers.

Chevy Chase has played in many celebrity poker showdowns in his poker career. He has also played in numerous charity events. Chevy Chase has a long history of playing high stakes poker against fellow Hollywood stars. He is a member of the exclusive Hollywood Gourmet Poker Club, founded by late night legend Johnny Carson. Other poker celebs whom are in the club include Steve Martin, Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, Martin Short, Barry Diller and producer David Chasman. They gather at the Hollywood Gourmet Poker Club once a month to eat and play.

Born into a well off family, Chevy Chase has not looked back. It seems this poker enthusiast plays for the fun, love, socialization and entertainment that poker brings. Chase has extensive experience in playing poker, although he is not a professional poker player. Chevy Chase has no major poker tournament cashing.

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Poker Celebrities - Poker Celebrity 4 Brian McFadden

Poker Celebrities - Poker Celebrity 4 Brian McFadden

Brian Nicholas McFadden better known as Brian McFadden (or to some Delta Goodrems Partner) was born on the 12^th April 1980. He is an Irish singer, who rose to fame with Irish boy band Westlife. Brian left Westlife and moved forward on his own solo career. He was married to former Atomic Kitten member Kerry Katona for some time, and is now engaged to Australian singer Delta Goodrem. Brian has found considerable success in Australia since his relationship with Delta Goodrem . He is also the brother of actress/reality show (Grease) winner Susan McFadden.

In 2008 McFadden took on the role of television presenting. He became a co-host of FOX8's Football Superstar in Australia. The reality series chronicles the fortunes of fifteen wanna-be football stars all trying for the chance to take a place in the squad of the Australian A-League team Sydney FC. Brian McFadden has continued this role in the 2009 series. In addition to this television presenting Brian McFadden appeared as a guest judge on Channel 10's Australian Idol also in 2009.

Brian McFadden can also be found in many poker tournaments, both celebrity tournaments and main event tournaments. Mostly; McFadden plays on Australian soil. Brian McFadden is one of the many celebrities who have been signed with celeb poker to play on their behalf at live events.

Brian McFadden has played in the Aussie Millions Main Event, many celebrity tournaments and in 2006 entered the World Series of Poker Main event.

Brian McFadden doesnt seem to have any big tournament wins regardless of being in many of them. Some people say that Brian McFadden should stick to the stage and off the felt. Regardless of his play result Brian McFadden is a sure crowd drawer to the casinos and to the poker industry in general. At the Aussie Millions Poker Championship, McFadden was railed by many onlooking fans.

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Poker Celebrities - Poker Celebrity 3 Ben Affleck

Poker Celebrities - Poker Celebrity 3 Ben Affleck

Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt; more commonly known as Ben Affleck was born on August 15, 1972. Ben Affleck to most of the worlds population is normally seen as an American actor, film director and screenwriter and of course a celebrity poker player! He became well known in the mid 1990s after the film Mallrats, and later more-so known after he played the lead role in Chasing Amey in 1997. Ben Affleck has since become a Academy Award winner for his amazing screenplay in Good Will Hunting in 1997. He has since established himself as one of Hollywoods leading men.

Ben Affleck has now also starred in several box office hits which were big big budget films, such as (Armageddon 1 998), Pearl Harbour (2001 - Shown in Picture), Changing Lanes, (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002) and Dare Devil (2003).

Ben is also known for his high profile and continually followed relationships with actress Gwenyth Paltrow relationship with actress/singer Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Garner. Ben Affleck finally settled down and married Jennifer Garner in June 2005. Ben Affleck has two daughters with his beautiful wife Jennifer - Violet and Seraphina.

Ben Affleck has been actively involved in politics, along with a non-profit organisation called the A-T Children's Project.

Out of the film and screen arena Ben Affleck is also famous for playing poker. He has had some major wins up his sleeve including winning the California State Poker Championship and with it USD$356,400.

Ben Affleck has been an avid poker enthusiast for many years, but it wasn't until he was helped by famous female poker professional Annie Duke that he started to get noticed for his poker skills instead of his acting or his love life. Following this help his incredible WPT event win costing 10k to buy into.

Ben Affleck has been known to have played online poker for years. According to some gossip forums on pokerstars. Ben Affleck is always one of the first to step up to play in large poker charity events including Anti Up for Africa in 2008. He also can be found playing in the celebrity poker tournaments at the WSOP (around a USD $5000 buy-in) and also on cash tables (popularly accompanied by Matt Damon), usually pretty high live limits with blinds of USD $100/$200.

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Poker Celebrities - Poker Celebrity 2 Annie Duke

Poker Celebrities - Poker Celebrity 2 Annie Duke

My second Poker Celbrity is Anne LaBarr Lederer-Duke, better known as Annie Duke. Born on September 13, 1965. Annie Duke is a professional poker player and also a book author. Annie won a bracelet in the 2004 World Series of Poker $2,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Event and was the winner of the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, where she earned the Winner-Take-All prize of $2,000,000. At the time, this victory was the most money paid in a single event to a female poker player. That record was broken by Annette Obrestad during the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event.

Annie holds the women's record for most "in the money" finishes at the WSOP. Duke has won more than three million dollars in tournament play. Nowadays she refuses to play in women's only tournaments. As of 2009 Annie Dukes total live tournament winnings exceeded $3,600,000. Her 37 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,136,846 of those winnings.

Annie Duke became the first poker player to appear on The Colbert Report. During the show, she talked about her book How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed, and Won Millions at The World Series of Poker; and what it's like to be a woman in a male-dominated event. Annie Duke Takes on the World featuring Annie playing against amateur poker players was shown on Game Show Network (GSN) in 2006.

Other television appearances include Annie Dukes appearance as a member of the Mob (NBC) where she correctly answered every question and was the only celebrity who wasn't eliminated. She returned and was successful on another fe occasions before returning on February 9 2007 under "Last Man Standing" rules where the game continued until only one person remained. She survived to reach the final five of 100 contestants.

Annie Duke has appeared on NBC's Poker After Dark three times but has not won, Deal Or No Deal to support a contestant who, after taking a $341,000 deal from the bank with only two cases left, found her case number 13 had the $1,000,000..

Along with Phil Hellmuth Jr., Duke is a coach on Fox Sports Network’s Best Damn Poker Show.

Lastly she appeared on the Donald Trump reality television show, Celebrity Apprentice. Throughout the season, each celebrity raised money for a charity of his or her choice. Duke raised more money for her charity (Refugees International) than any other contestant. Of the field of 16 competitors, Duke survived to compete in the finale against her primary rival throughout the show, Joan Rivers. She has also appeared on behalf of poker players worldwide in court (as seen in the video by clicking here) and has also won the NBC Heads-Up this year.

As for her poker game and cash play, it is assumed that Annie Duke is one hell of a money maker and probably the best female poker player the world has seen to date.

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Poker Celebrities - Poker Celebrity 1 Al Alvarez

Poker Celebrities - Poker Celebrity 1 Al Alvarez

Al Alvarez is the first poker celebrity to be listed on this blog. There will be many more poker celebrities coming up. He was educated in Oxford where he took a first in English. Al Alvarez became a full time writer in his late twenties after teaching for a short period in Oxford and also the United States. For 10 years (1956 to 1966), Alvarez was a poetry editor. During this period he was also a critic for The Observer.

Al Alvarez is an author of many non-fiction books. He is best known for his study of suicide, The Savage God being one of his many famous novels (1972). He has also written on divorce , dreams, and the oil industry. Most amazingly he has also written about his poker hobby on 2 occasions the titles being:

The Biggest Game In Town - the first-ever description of the World Series of Poker and the people who played in it. This book is still in print today.

Poker Bets, Bluffs and Bad Beats which is - an illustrated survey of the history and psychology of poker.

To add to this poker listing one could include his most recent book which is titled “Risky Business” which contains a few essays on poker and gambling.

Alfred Alvarez also has a 1999 autobiography titled Where Did It All Go Right?

Al Alvarez's poker book The Biggest Game In Town shows how well he can study the psychology of some very unusual players. His book is quite old and outdated now, it is however still a great read. In this book Alvarez indicates players, places, interests and the World Championship back in 1981. His second poker book indicating his knowledge for the game with a perfect introduction for beginners and a nostalgic romp for those already addicted to the game - as reviewed by some readers.

Alvarez has a few famous poker quotes to his name a few which follow:

・ I absolutely don't believe in anything. Full stop. Including luck.

・ I could think of worse ways of going than at the poker table.

・ Yes, I think poker really isn’t gambling

・ I think one of the interesting things about poker is that once you let your ego in, you're done for.

Although Al Alvarez has only one win to his name (1995 Festival of Poker London- £14,400) he knows his poker game like the back of his books! From 1984 to 1994 Alvarez played at the World Series of Poker, but only once in the main event (1994). Al Alvarez may be one of the worlds biggest cash players, one can only assume; with very little information on his winnings.

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