Jennifer Tilly, the Oscar-nominated actress who won the World Series' ladies event in 2005, made the money three times in earlier events this year and is a regular in the poker world. She said she puts in the hours required to become better, and compared celebrities to other hopefuls who hold regular jobs but hope to beat spectacular odds to win. The last few years, the person who won the World Series was not a professional, she said.
It takes intuition and skill and also a lot of luck. So really anybody can win the World Series of Poker, even a celebrity. Talk show host Montel Williams even held the chip lead for several hours on Saturday, at one point amassing 150,000 in chips after starting with 20,000.
But a few spectacularly bad calls later and he was back in the pack, ending the day almost back where he began with 20,900. Phil Gordon, a poker professional and expert commentator on the series, said after analyzing many celebrities' play, he noted many were good, but could fall victim to a catastrophic misstep. No-limit Hold'em is a game of mistakes and it only takes one big mistake to end your tournament life, he said.
These guys are good enough to compete, but over the course of several days, there are going to be multiple times where they're going to have a chance to make that big mistake. Fran Pinchot, a player from Atlantic City, N.J.
, who has spent 50 years on the tables, said experience greatly outweighs celebrity status. Quite a few celebrities do have several years of experience, but they're a small minority, he said. The bottom line is you've got to hold the cards.
Tilly showed some wisdom by losing only about 3,000 in chips when her kings-full full house lost to the higher aces-full version. And several celebrities have already made it through their first day, including actor Tobey Maguire and Jennifer Tilly, the Oscar-nominated actress who won the World Series' ladies event in 2005, made the money three times in earlier events this year and is a regular in the poker world.
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