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In honor of this WSOP preview issue, this month's Part Time Poker Player column features list of stars who have played at the WSOP in the past and ranks them according to their potential in take home a coveted 2008 WSOP bracelet.
Please note, this list starts at the bottom and moves its way up as the players get better.
7. Do You Actually Have Something or Are You Just Acting?
This is the lowest echelon of the celebritypoker totem pole and these players probably face the steepest uphill battle when it comes to winning a bracelet. The multi-talented funnyman and Simpsons’ voice talent Hank Azaria leads this group, which also features Dean “Superman” Cain, WickedChopsPoker. com favorite; actress Joanna Krupa; porn star Ron Jeremy; and B-actor Dax Sheepard.
6. Puncher’s Chance?
If you are looking for a sure bet, this next group is the wrong place to look. Professional athletes typically have not fared well at the poker tables and this group is no exception. Boxers Lennox Lewis and Antonio Tarver both busted early in the Main Event, and former NFL star Shannon Sharpe and golf ace Paul Azinger have also made quick exits.
5. The Funny Men
The next rung on the WSOP celebrity ladder features the guys who keep fans in stitches. Masters of wit and banter, these comics love the game and want to become better players, but they would need a lot of luck to take home a bracelet at this time. Former Saturday Night Live star Norm McDonald leads the pack, followed closely by Jason Alexander of Seinfeld, and Drew Carey of the Drew Carey Show and The Price is Right. Bringing up the rear are Penn Gillette of Penn and Teller and Brad Garrett of Everybody Loves Raymond.
4. One Take?
Directing fi lms and producing television shows takes a lot of talent and these three guys have all shown fl ashes of brilliance at the tables. Old School and Starsky and Hutch director Todd Phillips and actor-director Joe Reitman both have two cashes. The wild card of the group is television talk show host/producer Montel Williams who stormed the top of the chip count in the 2007 WSOP Main Event, but then disappeared soon after. He has continued playing poker since and has been in position to win several tournaments, so he defi nitely shows the potential to take down a bracelet.
3. The Favorites
The king of this group is undoubtedly Gabe Kaplan. Although he doesn’t have a bracelet yet, he has over $1.3 million in career tournament earnings. This commentator and Welcome Back Kotter star is hands down the most likely to take home a bracelet. Kaplan is no one-trick pony, having fi nished ninth in the 2007 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event.
The queen of this group is Dancing With the Stars’ Shannon Elizabeth. The former American Pie star has four cashes and showed that she can play with the game’s elite after fi nishing third at the 2007 NBC Heads-Up Championship.
Making up the rest of this group of court jesters are players who have all shown the skills and talents to win a bracelet if they get the cards. Actor James Woods has cashes in World Poker Tour and WSOP tournaments. Spiderman’s Tobey McGuire, LA Lakers owner Jerry Buss, and Celine Dion’s husband, René Angélil, have all cashed three times, while Simpsons’ co-creator Sam Simon has two cashes on his résumé.
2. The Darfur Charity Factor
These players get a special mention because they showed their support for the Ante Up for Africa charity event and have shown in the past that they can handle the pressure of closing the deal in heads-up play. Both Ben Affl eck, who won the California State Poker Championship in 2004, and Don Cheadle, who fi nished second in the 2007 NBC Heads-Up Championship, have demonstrated that they can play the game competently and can win on any given day.
1. Money
These two bracelet-winning celebrities have proven time and again that they deserve the respect of all who cross their paths and they show the most potential to win their second bracelets. French actor and singer Patrick Bruel has a bracelet from the 1998 $5,000 Limit Hold’em event and has eight cashes and over $900,000 in lifetime winnings. Academy Award winner Jennifer Tilly earned a bracelet in 2005 and also has a WPT title under her belt. Both Bruel and Tilly are threats in every tournament they play and are clearly favorites among the celebrity WSOP players.
Special Mention: Superstars We Want to See Win
This group may not wear bracelets in this lifetime, but many people in the media are pulling for them. Rounder’s stars Matt Damon and Ed Norton and actorextraordinaire Leo Dicaprio have all graced the WSOP with their presence. Seriously, who wouldn’t want to see “Mike McD,” “Worm,” or “Gilbert Grape” take a title?
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