The online versions of poker have surely helped a great deal in rapidly making it popular worldwide, and many celebrities are taking it up. This, naturally, makes its popularity even greater. Since the end of the 1990′s, several TV shows have been created to give famous people a chance to try their hand – literally. Some examples are the pioneers Celebrity Poker Showdown, on cable network Bravo, and the UK version, Celebrity Poker Club.

On Celebrity Poker Showdown™, each episode would have five players in a no limit Texas Hold’em tournament. The winner of the qualifying games would get a silver chip to play in the championship game. The winner of the final game of each season would win the grand prize for their chosen charity and a golden commemorative chip. Celebrity Poker club, the UK version, came a little bit later, when the Late Night Poker, on Channel 4, created a celebrity version. The show was a television tournament with good professional players, but also exceptional amateurs. The celebrity show, aired in 2000, featured Anthony Holden, Al Alvarez, Martin Amis, Victoria Coren, Patrick Marber, Stephen Fry and Ricky Gervais in the order of the results.

Some of the guests were already regular players, while others confessed afterwards they were not very keen on the game. Others celebrities started enjoying the game after they had been to these shows. Ben Affleck and David Schwimmer were among the very first guests on the Celebrity Poker Showdown. Other Hollywood stars have also been seen playing poker, but not all of them only in TV shows, including Matt Damon, Chevy Chase and East Enders Michael Greco, who took lessons and has become a successful professional poker player, and these are only the actors. The list also includes swimmer Michael Phelps, among others. Some celebrities have even given up completely the careers that made them famous to become professional poker players, like Shannon Elizabeth, best known for her performance in the American Pie movie.

Nowadays, more and more celebrities have joined in the bandwagon and play poker, although not necessarily in land-based casinos. In the UK, sites like Gala casinos online is very popular amongst the celebrities although some of you may wonder how factual this is as people play online with pseudonym.

Remember to check the latest free Texas Hold’em offers on the site here before you go.