These celebrities can’t get enough of playing poker. But how good are they?

What do you do after a long day of acting and earning millions – you spend your hard-earned money, winning even more.

Celebrities are synonymous with bright lights, big cities, fast lives, and high-rolling. It’s no wonder that more than a few celebrities enjoy poker in their spare time.

Once upon a time, for regular people to enjoy the rush of the poker or blackjack table, we’d need to head to a casino.

Now though, we can all get in on the action online too! And you never know when you might be playing with a celeb.

Playing poker for real money is exhilarating, and it’s no wonder that sports stars, big movie names, and high-rolling people in business hit tables whenever they can.

So which celebs have a knack for playing poker? 

Shannon Elizabeth

While some celebrities play poker for fun once in a while, Shannon Elizabeth is an actor turned professional poker player.

You will recognize Shannon from the hit movie American Pie, but you may not know that Shannon played poker long before that.

Shannon had been playing poker with her family since she was a teenager. Unlike most poker stars, her game of choice wasn’t the traditional Texas Hold’em.

It wasn’t until she played with the monumental winner Antonio Esfandiari she started to warm to Texas Hold’em. She enjoyed the game so much that she took her skills to the WSOP main event and finished just outside the money.

A cross-over of her real life and her movie life happened, as she starred in poker movies The Grand and Deal.

Jennifer Tilly

Another great actress turned poker professional is Jennifer Tilly. Shannon and Jennifer are friends and often play poker together.

Jennifer stars in Liar Liar, Stuart Little, Family Guy, and the Chucky Movies. She has a long list of hit movies to her name, but her preference is still the poker table.

She is a WSOP Ladies Event bracelet winner and was the first celebrity to win a World Series tournament!

Jennifers comes from a background of poker players and gamblers – but it wasn’t until she got to Hollywood that she took an interest.

She had a run of significant poker events, and then in 2008, she announced she was retiring from poker.

Rather than play professionally, she would play recreationally. It didn’t take long before she was back in the professional arena, though.

Her live winnings were last reported to be $992,000+.

Matt Damon

Since Matt is a much-loved actor and gave a cult-classic performance in the ultimate poker movie Rounders, it’s not surprising Matt plays in real life.

He has regularly appeared at the World Series of Poker and combines that with his busy acting career.

While some celebrities prefer to play under the watchful gaze of millions of poker fans, Matt is more interested in keeping his poker winnings unwraps.

It is also known that Matt Damon was among the celebrities that took part in the cash-only Molly Bloom games.

Alongside Leo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Macaulay Culkin, and Tobey Maguire.

Matt’s performance in Rounders inspired a fresh batch of brand new poker players who hoped to make it big.

Ben Affleck

With a 40-year friendship under their belt, where one goes, the other is never far behind. Like Matt Damon, Ben Affleck was one of the celebrities named in the underground poker ring that Molly Bloom ran.

There are countless accounts of Ben playing poker and being enjoyable to play with.

He has a few wins over the years, but one of his most notable was the $356,400 that he snagged at the California State Poker Championships.

Ben has also used his love of poker for charitable things. He arranged a celebrity poker tournament that raised $1.75 million for food banks. The buying was set at $10,000.

Big names like Kevin Smith, Jon Hamm, Adam Levin, and Sarah Silverman all took part.

Even though Ben has had some poker and gambling highs, he also has a couple of lows. Ben has been banned from a casino because he kept winning. Putting it down to his incredible memory.

Micheal Jordan

It’s not just movie stars that like to get in on the poker action, but they don’t all attack it with the ferocity of Micheal Jordan.

Micheal plays almost aggressively; he doesn’t mind how much he wins or loses; he is in it for the game.

He plays predominantly at high-roller tables, with starting stakes of half a million dollars – it’s not surprising!

As a player, he has turned games around from significant losses to almost million-dollar wins. Most notably, he was $500,000 down and left the table with $800,000. Making it a 1.3 million dollar turnaround.

Tobey Maguire

He attended Ben Affleck’s charity poker match and was named at Molly Bloom’s underground poker matches. So, of course, Tobey Maguire enjoys playing poker.

Although some parts of the story are almost wildly unbelievable, Tobey has an exciting relationship with poker. Tobey plays poker with a sharp wit and is looking to leverage his position at all times.

Tales like Affleck writing a $50,000 to cover Damn’s loss or DiCaprio getting staked for a $5,000 so he didn’t risk his cash – all come from games Tobey played at (or ran).

Player X in the movie Molly’s Game is Tobey Maguire. 

Poker is easy to learn and enjoyable game. It’s no wonder that celebrities like to unwind and play both in public and in private.