You might think that celebrities don’t need casino games as they live fulfilling lives full of adventures and achievements, but quite the opposite is true: from Olympic champions to renowned actors, celebrities enjoy all spectrum of gambling games, from poker to slots.
But what do they love more and more importantly, can you learn something from them and then apply it to practice? Let’s try to find out with Aleksandra Maj, a gambling expert from KasynoHEX.
Online casinos have become prevalent in recent years. Technological advancements have made it possible for many people to access online casino games, including from their mobile devices. Online casinos (like, for example, 22Bet Casino), provide a wide range of events, including an immense number of games to choose from.
Poker
Poker requires unorthodox mathematical abilities and psychology analytics: not only should you be able to count cards without mistakes – an absolute must for at least a more or less serious level of play – but you should also be able to dissect the opponent’s psyche depending on his body language and facial expression.
Most poker celebrities are from the film industry – Shannon Elizabeth, Kevin Hart, Jennifer Tilly, Toby Maguire, Jean Robert Bellande, Kevin Pollak, and more – but that shouldn’t come as a surprise because poker is one of the most popular themes for movies.
Deal (2009), Lucky You (2007), Maverick (1994), Molly’s Games (2017), Rounders (1998), the Cincinnati King (1965), Casino Royale (2006) – there are dozens, if not hundreds, of poker movies worth watching.
The one that stands aside from the rest, though, is Celebrity Poker Showdown, an American celebrity game show in which celebrities – five each show – played a no-limit Texas hold‘em tournament for charity.
How much can you learn from the poker movies? Not too much. Frankly speaking, if you’re willing to master poker, you better steer clear of poker movies since they completely contort the reality, either displaying impossible events or events that have literally no chances to happen in reality. Here are three examples:
- In Casino Royale, James Bond is outplaying his opponents in a game featuring over $40 million in stakes, a total practically unachievable in real life. Even the poshest casinos wouldn’t see that much money to be wagered within a single game: first of all, due to the max wager size limits in most jurisdictions; secondly, there wouldn’t be anyone in sound mind willing to bet that much. The largest casino bet in history is $777,000, a winning wager on the Don’t Pass Line in Craps.
- The same movie featured four poker players simultaneously collecting a straight flush, a flush, and two full houses, an occasion so rare that even your birth is more probable: 1 to 5.5 trillion against 1:18 trillion.
- In 21, a team of students counts cards to win millions in blackjack, which is quite close to what could theoretically have happened in real life when casinos didn’t implement any measures against card counting. Now, though, most casinos have adjusted their rules to nullify the possible card counting advantage.
Speaking of blackjack, Ben Affleck is unambiguously the most talented blackjack player among celebrities – and he is incredibly lucky as well. Once he won $800,000 in a single day and tipped a mind-blowing $150,000 to the dealers, which gave the casino reasons to doubt the fairness of the game: the movie star was banned for ‘forbidden generosity.’
Slots
While poker and blackjack are about digging deep into the intricacies of the process, slot machines are much more suitable for a carefree pastime without too much intellectual commitment. But it doesn’t mean winning at slots is easy – on the contrary, a sustainable profit is almost unachievable since all slots have a negative mathematical expectation. The odds are always against you, and even if the disadvantage is as small as 1%, it makes a lot of difference in the long run.
But the gruesome math behind slots doesn’t stop celebrities: Pamela Anderson, a former Baywatch beauty now married to her bodyguard, is a known slot aficionado who loves playing slots featuring her images. It’s unknown whether she won any money by outplaying her virtual counterpart, but most likely she didn’t.
Anyway, kudos to Pamela for not letting slots lure her into addiction – the star has a pretty healthy relationship with slots, which cannot be said about David Gest, the former husband of Liza Minnelli and showbiz promoter, whose story is truly heartbreaking.
The known reality TV star and the former impresario – found dead in a hotel room in the Canary Wharf area of London in 2016 – had lost a six-figure amount on slots during the last years of his life. At the time of death, Guest had only about $80,000 in his bank account, and his company had over half a million dollars in debts.
To Each His Own
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that celebrities cover almost all casino games, from slots to craps to live casinos. But let’s not forget many of them have almost unlimited budgets and time, which most of us don’t have. Taking this into account, it might be a good idea to take everything you see on the screen and read in the press with a grain of salt.
Important: gambling can cause addiction. If you or your loved ones show symptoms of gambling addiction, immediately ask for help at international – BeGambleAware, GamCare, Gamblers Anonymous, etc. – or local problem gambling organizations.