When online poker blogs start talking about celebrity poker players, the name Ben Affleck is usually thrown into the mix fairly quickly. In fact, there are those who would make the argument that Ben would make a far better poker pro then he is an actor. While he has played in a number of movies, including such blockbusters as “Pearl Harbor” and “Armageddon”, he is often criticized for having the acting depth of a soggy biscuit. There are a lot of us who are of the opinion that his best work often happens in either a hand of Texas Hold’em or when he is acting in a film directed by Kevin Smith (Ben was great in “Mallrats” “Dogma”, and “Chasing Amy”).
Ben, like Heavy Metal star Scott Ian, refined his tournament and live poker skills at the feet of Annie Duke. While winning hundreds of thousands of dollars playing Hold’em at tables in both Las Vegas and Atlantic City (as well as the homes of many of his friends), his shining moment playing live poker came when he won the California State Poker Championship in 2004. Not only did this add $356,400 to his bank account but it validated him in the legitimate community of poker pros. In other words, he was not just some celebrity poker player jumping on the bandwagon and hoping to God the game will extend his career another fifteen minutes. He is legit.
We can probably expect Ben to be in a lot more movies where he will somehow play every character the exact same way, but while online poker blogs may be brutal when talking about his acting, his skill as a poker player is beyond reproach.
