Poker in the real world
Poker in the real world.
Interest in poker has never been so high. Part of this has been due to the explosion of UK Poker is another that holds a wide range of tournaments around the world. The Irish Winter Festival (currently scheduled for this coming October) and the Asian Poker Tour are just a sample of the tournaments they organise, as well as numerous satellite qualifiers in-between these events.
What makes the fascination with poker so strong are the names behind the game. Professional poker players who are everyday, ordinary people, are now household names. Possibly the most well-known poker player in the world today is Phil Ivey, resident support member of Full-Tilt Poker and one of one of the most feared players in the game. He, however, isn’t unique in this aspect. Full-Tilt Poker has a whole host of celebrity professionals: Allen Cunningham, one of the most successful players in terms of money won; Gus Hansen, a three time World Poker Tour (WPT) winner and Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson, a Ph.D. in computer science and the winner of the Championship No-Limit Hold-em tournament at the WSOP in 2000. There are also celebrities from unrelated fields who make appearances at the poker table, an indication of just how popular the game has become. These have included the Spiderman actor Tobey Maguire, a participant of the WSOP Main Event for the past few years. The ‘Ante Up For Africa’ charity tournament on July 2nd 2009 had Hollywood actors Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Mekhi Phifer, ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ actor Brad Garrett and professional poker player Phil Hellmuth, winner of the most WSOP bracelets in history, among the big names participating in the annual event.