People often wonder what celebrities do in their free time and of course how they spend the exorbitant amounts of money they earn for simply being famous. Well, some of them play poker with real money which can end up being a very expensive hobby! We look at some UK celebrities who’ve been known to enjoy a few hands of poker, and who can probably afford to lose a few chips now and then.
Tony Cascarino
The Irish football legend, Tony Cascarino is more well known for knocking in goals across England, Scotland, and France in the mid-1990s than he is poker. However, anyone who has read his autobiography, Full Time, will know just how much the former football striker likes to play poker with real money. In the book he even jovially states he’s paid for two divorces with his poker winnings. While he’s been listed as a pro since 2004, he’s not always active in 2023; yet has been known to play socially.
Stephen Hendry
From one 90s sports icon to another, Stephen Hendry ruled World Snooker throughout most of the decade, affectionately called the King of the Crucible during his eight-year stint ranked as the No.1 snooker player. Hendry was at one point a PokerStars ambassador and notably hosted his own Stephen Hendry poker invitational tournament.
Victoria Coren Mitchell
One of the prominent figures in British journalism for the last ten years has been Victoria Coren Mitchell. She’s also a very successful poker player having earned over $2.5 million from the poker table during her career. While players are making and losing money all the time, this puts her within the top 20 earners of all female players as of 2023. Furthermore, she’s somewhat of a trailblazer in the sport – as she was the first woman to win an event on the European Poker Tour.
Teddy Sheringham
Potentially the original impact sub, as used by Alex Ferguson at Manchester United – Teddy Sheringham continued his career into his forties as he became iconic for scoring off the bench. After finally hanging up his boots in 2008, Sheringham soon became involved at the poker table. While he might not be as active on the poker table these days, he enjoyed a heyday in the 2010s with multiple top-10 finishes.
Derren Brown
Call him a magician, a showman, or a sleight-of-hand merchant, Derren Brown is good at what he does. Which is manipulating and forcing thoughts upon people. Such skills are easily transferrable to poker, so it’s no wonder he enjoys making a little money on the side – especially as he’s not on Channel 4 as much as he was 15 years ago. While he infamously told the Daily Mail he was hopeless at the game, this is questionable as he was barred from multiple casinos in the UK because he kept winning.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
