5 Sports Celebrities Who Love Playing Live Poker Tournaments
Poker is an amazing and fun game of cards, which is played and enjoyed worldwide today. Over the years, the game has caught up the nerves of many sports personalities. Many sports stars seem to be influenced by various poker games, including the most popular Texas Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, Sprint and Crazy Pineapple to name a few. Although the die hard fans of the game can be seen regularly at the live poker felts across the world, a few popular sports stars and legends also join in the live poker tournaments held at various places from time to time. Some sports celebrities who love playing live poker across the world include some well-known names:
1.Shane Warne (Cricket)
Warne broke almost every record on cricket field as a legendary spin bowler of the world. It would interesting for his fans to know that the cricketing legend has a deep love for the game of poker. According to him, he likes the level playing field of tournaments because anyone can beat anyone. Growing up, he watched his dad playing against his younger brother. Talking about poker, Warne once said “ “Nine years ago, when I retired, I sort of found poker, even though I’d played all my life, and thought wow! This is really exciting – the strategy, reading players, trying to work out all their tells – and just that competitive nature at the poker table.” In 2007, Warne was signed up by 888 Poker to promote their poker games and he remained an ambassador for them until January 2015. He got a huge press attention for having $225,000 worth of tournament chips during the WSOP Main Event. Finally, it is nice to hear that he has a full section on his website dedicated to poker.
2.Rafal Nadal ( Tennis)
The Spanish tennis ace too seems to love poker when he is not on the court. His love for live poker games can be known from the fact that he participated and competed in various poker tournaments in the world. His fist live poker tournament was the ETP Prague festival where he got the chance to play against some of the biggest poker players including the richest poker player Daniel Negreanu. He won €50,000, which he later on donated to a charity. Nadal was signed by PokerStars during his convalescence from a knee injury that caused him miss 7 months of his tennis career of 2012-13.
3.Ronaldo & Neymar Jr ( Football)
A three-time World Footballer of the Year, two-time European Footballer of the Year, two-time World Cup winner and a top goal scorer in World Cup finals, Ronaldo also loves the game of poker. Poker is very much popular in South America and Brazil and that was perhaps led him to establish a sports and entertainment agency 9ine, which showed his interest in the game. Among other Footballers who play live poker is Neymar Jr., who plays for FC Barcelona, one of the biggest football clubs in the world. Neymar is one of the brand ambassadors for PokerStars. Last year, he posted a picture of a rare royal flush in an online game, which helped him to win $100,000!
4.Georges St-Pierre ( Fighting Champion)
Georges St-Pierre is a Canadian mixed martial artist and the Ultimate Fighting Championship, who was signed up as a brand ambassador by 888poker.com in April 2012 to represent their games at the WSOP in Las Vegas. He is one of the few UFC fighters who have competed on the poker felt – including Chuck Liddell, Mick Swick and Forrest Griffin. On behalf of 888poker.com, he participated the $10,000 World Series of Poker Main Event back in 2012, but failed to make it beyond D1B. During 2012, he was also seen playing online poker at 888poker.com during special promotions.
5.Michael Phelps ( Swimmer)
Michael Phelps is Olympic swimming sensation who has won more gold in the pool than the poker players have won bracelets at the World Poker Series (WSOP). He won 22 medals in 3 Olympiads, 18 of them were gold medals. Also, he has broken an incredible 39 world records and has global superstar status in the world of swimming. He started playing live poker tournaments back in 2012.He came into media highlights when his friend remarked that his “don’t quit until you win” attitude that helped him gain No.1 position in the swimming pool might cause him to lose millions in poker.