If you can make millions of dollars in a career doing anything, there must be an element of skill involved. If it were all luck, our perception of the world would be in question, working hard to succeed wouldn’t mean anything. Bill Gates, a fluke? Can’t be. The celebrity poker players we’re going to talk about love the game of poker, and they’re all pretty good, so let’s not write them off just yet.

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A Tale of Two Sports?

These high-level footballers’ competitive nature has notfaded, they used to play on grass, now they play on felt.

One celebrity who considers “poker a sport” is Gerard Piquewho says, unlike football, in poker, you can play against the best in the worldeven if you’re a rookie. He enjoys the ’sport’ and has been involved in themost prestigious poker tournament around, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) mainevent, since 2013. Learning to play the game from former teammates John Oshea,Darren Fletcher and Wes Brown whilst at Manchester United.

Now at Barcelona FC alongside Lionel Messi, Gerard has won more than €650,000 playing poker and in 2019 he came second at an event in Barcelona winning his biggest ever cash prize, taking home €353,000; his then teammate Arturo Vidal finished 7th in the same tournament. Teddy Sherringham is another ex-Manchester United player who enjoys the classic table game, claiming a respectable $40,000 after a 14th place finishing in the 2009 WSOP.

However, possibly the biggest name in sport to play poker is none other than the 2002 Brazilian World Cup hero, Ronaldo. El Fenómeno, who is signed to PokerStars, is competing in the WSOP main event this month in Las Vegas with career earnings total of $45,760.

La-La Land

Can you keep your cool when the stakes are high if you land pocket aces? Can you hold your nerve betting big on the river when your drawing dead? Can you act?

Well, best friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are big poker fans, their day jobs involve pretending to be someone they’re not for which they get paid millions of dollars, so poker should come easy to them. Back in April, the duo raised over $1.75 million for Coronavirus relief by organising an online poker tournament with celebrities and pros all getting involved.

Matt Damon developed his interest in the game during the filming of the movie Rounders; he and his co-star Edward Norton were trained by the legendary Johnny Chan. Unlike Matt, Ben has had a huge win, winning $365,400 for coming 1st at the California State Poker Championship! The runner up in that event was Tobey Maguire who has had success in live and online poker, however is more infamously known for being connected to the hit movie ‘Molly’s Game’ alongside Matt and Ben for playing cash games, with extremely high stakes.

Featured Picks

Matt Salsburg is my first pick, a writer and producer involved in hit series such as ‘Weeds’ and ‘Entourage’. At first “it was a hobby”, now with over $2 million in career earnings and a famous win on the World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris, taking home $478,415 you could call him a pro. As a writer you create storylines, in poker, you do too, Matt certainly knows how to sell his.

Jeniffer Tilly is a must pick, she is known for her appearances in the Chucky horror movies and Oscar nominee performance in ‘Bullets Over Broadway’ however, on the circuit she can’t be ignored after winning the WSOP Ladies No-Limit Hold’em in 2005. Tilly said she learned by “osmosis” living with a boyfriend and professional poker player Phil Laak, “even in the middle of the night, he wakes up screaming out poker terms.”

Footballers often live fast, exciting lives where their actions on the pitch carry big risk and come with huge rewards.

When they cross the white line and enter the dressing room, some often look for other ways to get that same feeling, with players such as Wayne Rooney and Gianluigi Buffon turning to gaming to get an extra thrill. The search for thrills is accentuated once they finish their playing days because, with no matchday high to satisfy them, they must look elsewhere for the rush and excitement.

Some turn to poker, a game that requires a skillset not unlike that of a footballer. Both games need a strategy and a calm head, they require stamina and perseverance, and the rewards can be great if you turn winning into a habit. That is why there is little surprise that some great players can often be found around poker tables after playing, as you will see below.

Ronaldo

Say the name ‘Ronaldo’ to many football fans today and they think of the Portuguese wonder warming up for his fifth, and likely final, European Championships. However, long before he emerged at Manchester United, the Brazilian legend of the same name was winning World Cups.

The former Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan striker has also turned his hand to poker, taking a pot of around £30,000 at a 2007 Poker Stars tournament.

Tomas Brolin

Brolin is not a name Leeds fans will recall fondly, The Guardian suggests he might be their worst-ever signing, but there was a time when he won the UEFA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup with Parma, as well as taking Sweden to a World Cup semi-final.

After his playing career ended prematurely, he picked up the cards and featured in some of the most prestigious tournaments in that field, too. There are plenty of popular poker tournaments around the world, with a feature by Gala Casino highlighting how one of the best is the World Series of Poker, which Brolin entered in 2007. He also featured on the European Tour in the same year.

Steve Watts

Watts did not win a European Cup, nor play for his country. His rather modest career took in the likes of Leyton Orient and Lincoln City and started with him winning a national newspaper competition to find an exciting young striker.

He has enjoyed more success around the poker tables though, winning a spot in the Poker Million tournament in 2008. He finished 59th in the 2013 WSOP Main Event and took a World Poker Tour title in Marbella in 2014.

Tony Cascarino

Cascarino made his name as a striker with Gillingham, Millwall, Aston Villa and Celtic, also enjoying spells with Marseille and Chelsea during a stellar playing career. Despite being born in Kent, he represented the Republic of Ireland 88 times, scoring 19 goals, appearing in the Euros in 1988 and World Cups in 1990 and 1994.

Duke Who Plays Poker

In 2014, the towering striker won an estimated £210,000 in the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour, a figure similar to the transfer fee Millwall paid for his services in 1987. His estimated career earnings are thought to be around £430,000, making him as successful around the felt as he was on the grass.