It’s fairly common for professional athletes to use their downtime playing other hobbies. This is true for snooker players, Olympians and yes footballers too. Since the advent of online poker, many footballers have tried their hand at Texas Hold’em too. They clearly have a passion for poker as they make inordinate sums of money so it must be about fun and prestige for them. In today’s article we will list four famous footballers who are known to have documented success in poker as well as the beautiful game.
Neymar Jr
The Brazilian superstar is frequently playing celebrity poker tournaments in casinos, particularly when he sustains an injury. He’s usually found with eccentric glasses and a hood on, fitting in well with the typical online player venturing to live. It’s also worth noting that Neymar is the face of Pokerstars, the largest online site. His fans have undoubtedly opened poker up to a new pool of potential players as Neymar is recognized globally. Seeing his face at the poker table will have them rushing to download ta texas holdem starting hands cheat sheet and emulating the footballing icon.
Neymar’s best cash remains $21,072 for a 6th place finish at a highrollers event in July 2018 (Brazilian Series of Poker). Not too shabby for day’s work although a lot less than he obviously makes from football…
Teddy Sheringham
Champions League winner Teddy Sheringham has been playing for years. Since retiring in 2008, he’s frequented many live cash games, TV events and major poker tournaments. Of all the footballing poker players, Teddy’s up there as one of the best. He isn’t seen playing the major tournament as much in recent years but an impressive 5th place in an EPT event in August 2010 for €93,121 is hard to rival!
Gerard Pique
The Barcelona defender has won just about everything from football so any poker success will pale in significance. However, the Spaniard is no pushover at the green felt. Between 2011 and 2019, Pique has racked up just under $700,000 in tournament cashes. His best result was a 2nd place finish in EPT Barcelona €25K event in August 2019 earning him €352,950.
Tony Cascarino
He may be older than the previous footballers, but Irish-Italian Tony Cascarino is a fantastic poker player. Unlike most ex-footballers who stick to tournaments, Tony is formidable at cash too. Regularly playing in London games, Tony has countless tournament cashes including a GUKPT win for £168,800 in November 2009. The 59-year-old is highly regarded in the live poker scene and since he retired over 20 years ago, many opponents probably don’t even realise they are playing against a once prolific striker. Tony can boast 88 caps and 19 goals for Republic Ireland and occupies legend status there. In addition to his successes as a player, he has appeared on poker shows on TV, commentating on famous shows like The Poker Den.
There you have it, four famous poker players who are also great at poker. Any we missed? Let us know…
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