Celebrity Poker Players Blog

Celebrity Poker Player: Oprah Winfrey

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Wed, 9 Jan 2013 19:10:00 +0800

Oprah Winfrey has spent decades showering her audiences with lavish gifts and with this being her final season on the air, Winfrey is going out in grand fashion. Part of the plan was to unveil Oprah's favorite things for 2010 this past week on her show. In most cases, Oprah has been sensitive to the wants of her audience, but over the years, the one group of people she has ignored in these giveaway shows is online poker players. Millions of online gamblers have walked through the studio doors for Oprah's show, but none have ever left with a gift involving their favorite hobby.

This year was no different. The audience received many different gifts, ranging from low priced gadgets, to high priced luxury cruises. Watches and jewelry are always found on Oprah's favorite things list, and this year was no different. A Phillip Stein limited edition with fifty-eight handset diamonds priced at $2,475 was on the list.

Royal Caribbean unveiled the world's biggest cruise ship this year, the Allure of the Seas. Oprah took full advantage of promoting the ship by giving audience members a one week vacation aboard the ship. A Sony Bravia and a five-year Netflix membership were other gifts that were handed out.

Oprah is also known for promoting books through her giveaways and this year, A Course in Weight Loss was one of the chosen gifts. For the photography savvy audience members, a Nikon e3100 Digital SLR camera was handed out. Ralph Lauren was represented with a Cashmere sweater and throw worth $498.

With this being the last year of the Oprah Winfrey Show, online poker players will have to come to the realization that Oprah has never found the game of poker to be among her favorite things. Not that any of the audience members in attendance should be complaining anytime soon.

About Oprah Winfrey: Oprah Winfrey's first name was supposed to be Orpah, after Ruth's sister-in-law in the Bible, but it was misspelled Oprah on her birth certificate. The name remains. Leaving her grandmother's home in Mississippi, Winfrey splits her time between her mother, Vernita, in Milwaukee, Wis., and her father, Vernon, in Nashville, Tenn. She is raped and abused by family friends in Milwaukee. Winfrey moves to Nashville permanently in 1968, secretly pregnant at 14. Her father, a strict disciplinarian, helps her rebuild her life when her week-old baby dies.

After an eight-year stint cohosting a local morning show in Baltimore, Md., a 29-year-old Winfrey cohosts the talk show AM Chicago, which she eventually takes over. Within months she beats the top-rated Phil Donahue Show in viewership and AM Chicago is renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah Winfrey also launches O, the Oprah Magazine. After discord arises among the editing staff, Winfrey flies them all to her home in Miami.

Celebrity Gambler: Will Smith

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:49:00 +0800

Actor and a celebrity gambler Will Smith lost an incredible $60,000 (£39,960) gambling while preparing for the filming of THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE in Las Vegas. While the trip did good things for Smith's swing, the tables were another story, Del Barrio said. After Will Smith lost $60,000 in about 20 minutes, Del Barrio said that Smith vowed it would never happen again. "Ron," he said. "I guarantee you this - you will never see me gamble again." For the rest of that trip and during several subsequent visits to this gambling Mecca, Will Smith actually held to his word.

About Will Smith: Rapper-turned-actor Will Smith has become one of Hollywood's most bankable multitasks. As half of the rap duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Smith found success with such mom-friendly hits as "Parents Just Don't Understand" that appealed to teenagers without using violent, vulgar lyrics. He branched out to TV with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a successful sitcom that aired for several seasons and is still widely syndicated.

Because of this ability to both be comfortable and to make others comfortable, he drew unanimous admiration from his peers for both his extraordinary drive and that easygoing charm which helped him move seamlessly between worlds. One of only three actors to star in seven consecutive $100 million blockbusters, Smith was hailed by Entertainment Weekly as the smartest actor in Hollywood for "achieving a level of global popularity unprecedented for an African-American actor." Smith was under the age of 40 when that comment was made, and still striving to achieve his personal best in an ever-widening field of creative pursuits.

Will Smith's first steps into super-stardom came with his next film, Bad Boys (1995). The high-budget cop movie saw him team up with comic Martin Lawrence, breaking away from the black-cop-white-cop formula that had been so successful for Beverly Hills Cop and the Lethal Weapon series.

Smith fought aliens again in his next blockbuster, the comic sci-fi action film, Men In Black (1997). Playing opposite Tommy Lee Jones, Smith chewed up the screen as the new recruit to Jones's old hand. Smith sang the theme song, and its inclusion on his solo album, Big Willie Style (1997) brought the multi-talented actor another success. Another Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster followed with the slick conspiracy thriller Enemy of the State (1998), which earned Smith an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture.

The string of hits came to an end in 1999 with Wild Wild West, a sci-fi cowboy Western co-starring Kevin Kline. Despite the film's lackluster box-office performance, the track Smith cut for the film became a hit on his album, Willennium (1999). The golf movie The Legend of Bagger Vance was his next big film, with Smith playing the caddie to Matt Damon's out-of-sorts swinger.

In 2001 the biopic Ali, based on boxing legend Muhammad Ali, saw Smith return to critical acclaim. His turn as the charismatic boxing great saw Smith put in the performance of his life, training and disciplining himself to extraordinary lengths to do justice to the athleticism, and ego, of the films main character. The film under-performed at the box-office despite a record-breaking opening day. Smith's performance, however, was good enough to be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar.

Çelebrity Poker Player: Justin Bieber

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 21:34:00 +0800

Justin Bieber is young but that didn’t stop him from gambling. He seems to love a game of poker. As Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship (who opened for Justin on tour) said:

“A hotel we were staying at had a casino. Justin was too young to go into the casino but he wanted to play poker. So he had one of the dealers come up to his suite and have a poker game in his room. He got flushed out by one of his tour managers and was bumming out about losing 200 bucks. He said at the start: I’m not going to lose more than $20.”

About Justin Bieber: It's hard to imagine Justin Bieber without his legion of screaming fans, but Justin had a humble start. After posting dozens of homemade videos on YouTube in 2007, putting his unique spin on songs from artists like Usher, Ne-Yo and Stevie Wonder, Justin racked up over 10,000,000 views on his own.

That’s when celebrity poker player Justin Bieber started posting footage online. He put videos of himself singing on YouTube, mainly to share with friends and family.

But as it turned out, other people were watching those videos and started subscribing to them.

One of those people would eventually become Justin’s manager. Within months, Justin was an Internet sensation, with a large following of fans, and an eager manager arranging for the teenager to fly to Atlanta to consider a record deal.

There, Bieber had a chance meeting with Usher, who eventually signed the young singer to a contract.

Justin Bieber's first single, "One Time," went certified platinum in his native Canada shortly after its release in May 2009. His album My World matched that success, selling more than 137,000 copies within a week of hitting stores.

Bieber broke into the Billboard Top 10 in early 2010 with "Baby," which also featured Ludacris. Bieber soon released My World 2.0 (2010), which offered his growing fan base ten new songs.

In 2011, Justin Bieber took to the big screen in the concert documentary Never Say Never. His fans crowded movie theaters to catch him in action on stage and get a glimpse of his life behind the scenes.

The movie, which eventually earned more than $73 million at the box office, also had guest appearances by Kanye West, Miley Cyrus and Bieber's musical mentor Usher. That same year, Justin Bieber released an album featuring his own take on such holiday classics as "All I Want For Christmas Is," his duet with Mariah Carey.

Cindy Margolis: The Queen Of Internet And Poker

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:09:00 +0800

Hot celebrity poker player, Cindy Margolis is more than just another appealing face at the tables. Considered a pop culture icon and one of the most prevalent models downloaded from the internet, Margolis has fans across the globe. Having adorned the covers of Playboy Magazine and Woman Poker Player Magazine, poker babe Cindy Margolis is always a big fan draw and has joined in the ABC Pro-Am Equalizer and numerous World Series of Poker events. A prestigious Hollywood celebrity actress and model, Margolis is always a fan favorite, particularly amongst the internet community.

About Cindy Margolis: Born in Los Angeles, California, blonde bombshell Cindy Margolis is not only known as the "Queen of the Internet" but also as a talk show host, model and actress. It all started when Cindy was working on a project for a college business course she was taking. She took her project idea of greeting cards further and launched her own greeting card line, with her as the cover model for the cards. Agents started to ask about this greeting card cover girl.

Cindy then moved on to television with appearances on shows such as Married...with Children, Murphy Brown, Baywatch, Baywatch Nights, In the Dark, and Head Over Heels. Her first foray into television was as a Barker Beauty, a hostess on the game show The Price Is Right. Her achievement has gone way afar the realm of cyberspace. Moviegoers certainly remember her as the fem-bot in the 1997 smash hit Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, which was the only reason for eyes to vagrant from Elizabeth Hurley in a leather catsuit! The following year, Cindy had a role in Chairman of the Board, co-starring Carrot Top and Raquel Welch.

Her time in power as "Queen of the Internet" arose when Warner Brothers' Extra introduced a television segment on Cindy. Viewers were able to go online at the same time to see some of Cindy's most popular posters. Cindy's image was downloaded to the rush of fans logged on to the Internet every 10 seconds!

Since then, she has been entitled Yahoo Internet Life magazine's "Queen of the Internet" from 1996-1999. She has been downloaded worldwide over 58 million times and has been inducted into The Guinness Book of World Records 2000 Millennium Issue, for having been downloaded 70,000 times in a period of 24 hours. For her rule in the cyber world, Cindy will be featured in the New Ripley's Believe It or Not museums. She married her first husband, Guy Starkman, who owns Jerry's Famous Deli, after having met him on a blind date.

Celebrity Poker Player: Paul Wesley

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Tue, 1 Jun 2010 15:44:00 +0800

For the past few years, the world has seen a diverse selection of celebrities who have graced the different poker tables all over the globe. We've already seen singers, comedians, character actors as well as the other types of people who have reached the celebrity status play poker at an elevated level of competition.

The events such as Bravo's television show "Celebrity Poker Showdown" allows the television audience to see the extra talent these celebrity poker players have in playing poker.

One of the most popular Hollywood celebrity star that come to the minds of the television audience when it comes to television action is Paul Wesley. He has already appeared in numerous action roles as well as some other roles that perfectly fit his personality as a tough individual.

Paul Thomas Wasilewski or simply Paul Wesley grew up in Marlboro, New Jersey. His parents, Agnieszka and Thomas Wasilewski, moved to the U.S. from Poland just before his birth. Paul has one older sister named Monika and two younger sisters, Julia and Leah.

Paul Wesley attended Christian Brothers Academy and Marlboro High School for a short time before being cast in Guiding Light in his junior year. His role on the show forced him to transfer to Lakewood Prep School, which accommodated his busy acting schedule.

After graduating in 2000, Paul Wesley attended Rutgers University for one semester. With his parents support, he left after he realized he could make a career of acting.

In 2005 Paul Wesley changed his last name to “Wesley” due to the fact that “Wasilewski” was too hard to pronounce. Paul Wesley enjoys playing poker, ice hockey and snowboarding as well as having an interest in writing and directing.

Paul Wesley first landed a role in the soap Guiding Light as Max Nickerson. He has also made appearances on the television shows Army Wives, 24, Smallville, The O.C., 8 Simple Rules, Wolf Lake, Cane, American Dreams, Everwood, and Law &; Order: Special Victims Unit.

As far as movies go, he has had roles in Peaceful Warrior, Roll Bounce, and Cloud 9, Fallen, and Killer Movie. Paul Wesley is probably best known for his role as Stefan Salvatore on the hit CW show The Vampire Diaries.

Paul Wesley's TV series Fallen is a 2006 ABC Family miniseries based on the novel series The Fallen, broken into three parts. The first part was originally advertised as an “ABC Family Original Movie”, but nearly a year later, it was followed up with two other parts of equal length over the course of a weekend.

Fallen stars Paul Wesley as Aaron Corbett, a good-natured high school student who discovers he is a Nephilim, human-angel hybrid. An alternate reality game advertising the series has won an interactive Emmy.

He is engaged to his Killer Movie co-star Torrey DeVitto. Paul Wesley is currently starring in Lifetime’s Army Wives as the soldier boyfriend of Emmalin Holden.

Here's a little treat for those fans who are feeling lost on this Thursday night since their favorite vampire show is officially on summer break. Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder of 'The Vampire Diaries' were in New York City today to attend the CW "Upfront" at Madison Square Garden.

The only show reportedly cancelled by the network was 'Melrose Place'. The network added 2 new shows ('Hellcats' & 'Nikita') and moved a few of the others (like 'Supernatural') around to new nights.

MONDAY

8 p.m. "90210" (New Night)

9 p.m. "Gossip Girl"

TUESDAY

8 p.m. "One Tree Hill" (New Night)

9 p.m. "Life Unexpected" (New Night)

WEDNESDAY

8 p.m. "America's Next Top Model"

9 p.m. "HELLCATS"

THURSDAY

8 p.m. "The Vampire Diaries"

9 p.m. "NIKITA"

FRIDAY

8 p.m. "Smallville"

9 p.m. "Supernatural" (New Night)

Are you surprised that Melrose Place was cut? Are you okay with them switching around days and times of the other shows?

Twilight: Eclipse A Blockbuster Hit? Bet Now!

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Fri, 28 May 2010 15:44:00 +0800

June will see the release of a number of new blockbuster movies and sports betting sites are betting on which one will achieve the highest opening weekend worldwide gross, with Twilight: Eclipse just favored to edge out Toy Story 3 and The A Team. The third installment in The Twilight Saga is set to open on June 30 and film goers will be clambering to get the latest update on this romantic-fantasy series based on the novels by Stephenie Meyer.

Movie critics have the responsibility of reporting to the public which movies are worth their time and which movies are hardly worth renting. It is not common that one will find critics to agree on which movies are good and which movies are bad, but movies goers tend to overlook the harsh criticism and see for themselves what a film is all about. Sometimes it ends up being well worth the money spent, and sometimes not so much.

2010 has already delivered some amazing Hollywood blockbusters, which topped box office sales and set new records for the year. Successful ticket sales generally come from an original film which features new characters and entertaining story lines. The popularity of a film is determined by the box office revenues. It is somewhat of an election in which the votes are cast by purchasing tickets.

Most critics will agree that just because a film does well with box office sales does not mean that the film is “good”, per se. It only means that movie goers were curious enough about the film to pay the outrageous price it is for a theater ticket now days.

The appeal of films has a lot to do with the star studded cast, or lack there of. Movie goers are more likely to pay ticket price to see a film with successful actors in it, as opposed to a film that introduces a new Hollywood wanna-be. 2010 has already pushed out a little of both, and even the films with some of the biggest names in Hollywood have flunked at bringing the film to the big screen.

Online sports betting sites have created entertainment betting lines which list some of the most anticipated films of 2010. The sports betting sites want to know how the public thinks they will do at the box office upon release. Which films will mark the highest opening weekend, and which films will probably be found on the tomatoreader?

Which movie will have the highest opening weekend? Below are the betting odds of the following upcoming movies:

Twilight: Eclipse – +137

Toy Story 3D – +150

The A Team – +400

Inception – +1000

The Last Airbender – +1200

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – +1400

Knight and Day – +2500

The Expendables – +2500

Salt – +3300

Predators – +4000

The initial episode Twilight grossed a total of almost $409million in 2008 and last year's sequel New Moon made a staggering $710million for Summit Entertainment. The delightful Kirsten Stewart will again star as Bella Swan, who must choose between her love for vampire Edward Cullen played by Robert Pattinson and her friendship with werewolf Jacob Black played by Taylor Lautner.

The usual threat and danger will be present in the background as vengeful vampire Victoria again targets Bella and Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings.

It goes without saying that the subject matter in Toy Story 3 will be much more light-hearted, although there will still be the usual scrapes for Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Co. Over a decade has passed since Toy Story 2 grossed an amazing $485million and a whole new generation of kids and their parents will be piling into cinemas at half-term for a June 18 release.

The plot is that Andy played by John Morris is now a young adult and just days away from heading off to college, leaving his toys worried about their uncertain future - will everything turn out okay once more? An all-star cast sees Tom Hanks back as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear and Joan Cusack as Jessie, while the likes of Michael Keating and Whoopi Goldberg also get a show.

The A Team is being tipped to fall somewhere in between those two films genre-wise as writer Michael Brandt has hinted the adaptation will be more gritty than the 80s TV series - in the vein of Batman Begins, Die Hard, The Bourne Identity and Casino Royale. Liam Neelson will be Col John 'Hannibal' Smith, Bradley Cooper is Templeton 'Faceman' Peck, Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson is BA Baracus and Sharlto Copley is 'Howling Mad' Murdock for the June 11 release.

It should be a fascinating Battle of the Blockbusters and Paddy Power - a renowned sports betting site make Twilight:Eclipse a narrow favourite at 11/8 to fare best, followed by Toy Story 3 on 6/4 and the A Team 4/1 - with the result decided on boxofficemojo.com figures.

Other films included in this market that you can bet on are Inception at 10/1, The Last Airbender at 12/1, The Sorcerer's Apprentice at 14/1, Knight & Day on 25/1, The Expendables 25/1, Salt 33/1 and Predators 40/1.

Celebrity Poker Player: Scarlett Johansson

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Tue, 25 May 2010 17:36:00 +0800

Celebrities that have become part of the poker community either by sponsorships or in some cases have become the face of a poker show or at one of the many online poker sites. You do not need to be good at maths to be good at poker. You do not need to be physically attractive to be good at poker. You do not need charm to be good at poker. But for this sexy poker player Scarlett Johansson, she has it all!

Celebrity poker player Scarlett Johansson's figure has caught up with her already-mature and collected personality -- and now that she can scratch "child actress" off her resume, we can admire the sexy young woman she has become. An extra part of Scarlett Johansson's allure is her uniquely throaty voice, which entices us.

About Scarlett Johansson: As might be expected of an acting prodigy, Scarlett Johansson had an unusually early interest in performing: She wanted to be an actress since age 3, and was acting professionally when she was only 8 years old. After taking classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute for Young People, Scarlett Johansson made her stage debut in the early 1990s in the off-Broadway production of Sophistry, alongside Ethan Hawke.

Scarlett Johansson's first film role came in 1994's North, starring Elijah Wood, another child star survivor. The following year she played Sean Connery's daughter in the thriller Just Cause, and then in 1996 she appeared in If Lucy Fell and Manny &; Lo. For the latter film, Scarlett Johansson was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress in 1997. That year she added Fall and Home Alone 3 to her burgeoning list of credits as well.

In 2002 Scarlett Johansson shot three films – The Perfect Score in Vancouver, Lost In Translation in Tokyo and Girl with a Pearl Earring in Luxembourg. The first to hit theaters was Lost In Translation. It was an instant hit ever since its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where Scarlett Johansson won the Upstream Prize for Best Actress. Indeed, her performance was stunning, even more so when you consider that Scarlett was mere 17-years old when she played the newlywed twentysomething.

In some ways 2004 started out as a low year for Scarlett Johansson. The long overdue The Perfect Score was finally released and neither the critics or audience warmed up to the teen comedy. They just couldn’t help comparing it to the extraordinary cinematic masterpieces known as Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring. Although nominated twice for Best Leading Actress at the Golden Globes, Scarlett Johansson ended up empty handed… And she didn’t receive an Oscar nomination. After the prestigious award ceremony in February, Scarlett made first-hand experience with awful gossip.

As a supporter of runner-up for democrat presidential candidate Howard Dean, Scarlett Johansson was wearing a Howard Dean badge to the The Perfect Score premiere. When John Kerry ended up being the democrat candidate, she also supported his campaign on several occasions. Obviously, the re-election of George W. Bush as the US president must have been some sort of setback for the opinionated actress.

Aside from the movie world, Scarlett Johansson was also active in the fashion world: she signed a contract with Calvin Klein to be the face for their new fragrance ‘Eternity Moment’ and was part of the fall/winter 2004/05 campaign for Louis Vuitton. Her newly found fame also led to more roles: She plays Dennis Quaid’s daughter and Topher Grace’s love interest in In Good Company (shot in spring/early summer 2004 and released in December).

After some projects were delayed and caused a free schedule for the summer, her hero Woody Allen cast her in Match Point. Scarlett Johansson packed her bags and flew to London to work on the movie in July 2004. In September Scarlett was part of the Venezia jury at the 61st Venice Film Festival and A Love Song for Bobby Long also had its world premiere there.

After promotional work for Calvin Klein, a short vacation, getting her tonsils removed and making two appearances at the Hollywood Film Festival, Scarlett Johansson started work on The Island in October 2004, the sci-fi thriller directed by Michael Bay, co-starring Ewan McGregor. And somewhere in 2004 Scarlett Johansson also managed to contribute voice work to The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Talk about a busy year!

Scarlett Johansson received a Golden Globe nomination for her work in A Love Song for Bobby Long in 2005 but the award went to Hilary Swank, who was soon to co-star with Scarlett in Brian De Palma’s The Black Dahlia. After finishing work on The Island in early 2005, Scarlett Johansson flew to Bulgaria to work on The Black Dahlia in April. After a long delay, the film finally started production. Woody Allen was so taken by Scarlett’s work in Match Point that he quickly hired the actress for his next film, a comedy titled Scoop. It was also filmed on location in London in June and July 2005.

After wrapping up the comedy, Scarlett promoted The Island all over the world, attending premieres and gracing magazine covers worldwide. Unfortunately, the response to the Michael Bay action movie, which opened in July 2005, was a let down – both in the box office and in the eyes of the critics. After months of promoting The Island and filming Scoop, Match Point opened in late 2005. Scarlett received rave reviews for her performance as Nola Rice, an actress struggling with love and passion. The film also earned Scarlett Johansson her 4th Golden Globe nomination.

Year 2006 started with a bang for Scarlett. She signed a reported $4mil deal to become the new face of cosmetics giant L’Oreal. Within a couple of months time she also signed on to star in two more films; The Prestige and The Nanny Diaries. Scarlett began filming Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige in January. After wrapping up, she had a well-deserved break from the spotlight before dying those well known locks of hers to brunette and starting to film The Nanny Diaries in April.

Scarlett Johansson soon signed on to star in Justin Chadwick’s period piece, The Other Boleyn Girl. She traveled back to England to work on the film and befriended co-star Natalie Portman. Scarlett Johansson also became more involved with charity causes and raising awareness. When Bono and Bobby Shriver organized the RED campaign with the UK’s Gap, Scarlett was the first celebrity to sign up, wearing RED clothes on the covers of two British magazines. With the releases of Scoop, The Black Dahlia and The Prestige, the RED campaign and more media coverage than perhaps ever, late 2006 turned out to be a very busy year for Scarlett, who was crowned the sexiest woman of the year by FHM and Esquire magazines!

Scarlet Johansson's recent movie Iron Man 2 with Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle. Scarlet Johannsson played the role of Natasha Romanoff, the new Tony Stark’s secretary, and her alter ego, the Black Widow. There is a lot of mythology surrounding her character and several variations so we’ll just have to await how the movie’s version will feature her and of course how Scarlett Johansson adapts her.

Celebrity Poker Player: Rihanna

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Fri, 21 May 2010 15:42:00 +0800

Most have probably heard the tones of the track “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga over the years. And now there's maybe chance, or risk if you like, to airwaves are filled with several poker songs. The music video for Rihanna's newest popfænomenet number called “Hard”, the poker fans for quite able to recognize a special logo.

What about the middle of the music video where sexy poker player Rihanna gets a slap poker with two unidentified gentlemen. Repeatedly zooms in on the chips, where the wording PokerStars not to be mistaken. And also the cards as the game's three participants are using, is adorned by the large poker sites logo.

What the agreement has cost PokerStars is not known but it has hardly been cheap. Is “Hard” a great success, the site at least could look forward to massive exposure. For example, the music video for another of celebrity poker player Rihanna's tracks, Do not stop the music, been viewed more than 106 million times on YouTube.

About Rihanna: Robin Rihanna Fenty a.k.a Ri-Ri or Rihanna sudden and meteoric rise made American Idol hopefuls look like seasoned crooners who had spent a decade on the road before hitting the big time. A native of the island of Barbados, Rihanna lived an average life and barely even dreamed of show business before she was discovered in late 2003.

Despite her total lack of professional singing experience, Rihanna was snapped up by Def Jam, and had a hit with her single "Pon de Replay" in 2005. She quickly followed this up with the release of her debut album, Music of the Sun.

Rihanna wasted no time in putting out a second album, A Girl Like Me, the following year, and her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, took listeners by storm in 2007 with a slew of hit singles including "Umbrella" and "Don't Stop The Music."

Rihanna's instant success wasn't all luck, though. Her talent is undeniable, and her personality is determined yet appreciative. She instantly caught the attention of the likes of Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z and Sean Paul, and in 2007, when she released her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, all signs indicated she would be a massive success. Her fourth studio album was released in November 2009, entitled Rated R, and it is Rihanna's highest.

The wave of popularity that stemmed from Rihanna's impressive debut carried her onto the small screen. She's been on Live with Regis and Kelly, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Today, and has performed at the 2005 Video Music Awards, World Music Awards and MTV Awards.

She's also helped kick off sports events, from a performance alongside Kanye West at the start of the NFL season to a show for the start of the 2005 U.S. Lawn Tennis Open Championships.

In 2006, Rihanna released her second album, A Girl Like Me, which boasted the hit singles "SOS," "Unfaithful," "We Ride," and "Break It Off" featuring Sean Paul. In 2007, it was another successful year for the budding talent. Rihanna released her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad.

A number of hits also resulted from this album including "Umbrella," which featured Jay-Z. This song was the longest running No. 1 single since Wet Wet Wet's' single "Love Is All Around" back in 1994, and the longest running No. 1 by a female artist since Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You."

Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad also included the hits "Shut Up And Drive" and "Don't Stop The Music." At the 2007 American Music Awards Rihanna won for Favorite Female Artist in the Soul/Rhythm &; Blues category.

Rihanna's skyrocketed career falls down when Rihanna was scheduled to perform at the 2009 Grammy Awards show, an incident of physical abuse from boyfriend Chris Brown kept the two from performing together on stage.

Photos of battered Rihanna circulated the internet days after the incident, and Chris Brown released a statement to the public claiming he was finding the guidance he needed with friends and family, away from Rihanna.

After the courts agreed to a plea bargain with Chris Brown, Rihanna fans will be happy to know that part of the plea bargain requires Chris Brown to stay far away from Rihanna.

Teri Hatcher: Sexy Celebrity Poker Player

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Tue, 18 May 2010 16:17:00 +0800

If you've been following the celebrity highway maybe you've missed the road signs along the way that told you what celebs are playing lately, which games and where. Teri Hatcher is one of the most sexy and hot female celebrity poker player who got involved like many celebrities have in the last few years through playing TV celebrity poker programs.

Celebrity poker player Teri Hatcher was once spotted playing poker and the World Poker Tour Invitational in City of Commerce. With a motley crew of over 100 stars from the screen and the world of poker, the World Poker Tour’s Celebrity Invitational will get underway tomorrow. The proceeds will go to Chrysalis, a charity that helps economically disadvantaged and homeless people find work.

The guest list at Los Angeles’s Commerce Casino this weekend includes, among others, Marlon Wayans, Eric Dane, Hank Azaria and Ricki Lake. There is also a $200,000 prize pool that will go to the recipients’ various charitable organizations. The grand prize is a seat in the World Poker Tour’s Championship.

About Teri Hatcher: Teri Hatcher’s wildly successful portrayal of Susan Mayer in the award-winning ABC Comedy Desperate Housewives earned her a 2005 Golden Globe Award as Best Actress in a Leading Role, Musical or Comedy, Television, a 2005 Screen Actors Guild Award as Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series, a 2006 Golden Globe Award nomination, a 2005 Television Critics Award nomination and a 2005 Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy. The role of the single mom searching for love in the sometimes sordid, always intriguing world of Wisteria Lane has vaulted Teri Hatcher to the pinnacle of today’s hottest comic actresses.

Teri Hatcher’s international success has continued to grow since her days starring as the unforgettable Lois Lane in the 1994-97 series Lois & Clark. Her most recent successes resulted in recent honors by the U.K. edition of Glamour magazine as one of its 2005 Women of the Year, as well as also winning Glamour’s 2007 Writer of the Year. She was also honored by the Women’s World Awards in 2006.

She recently became a New York Times best-selling author with her first book, Burnt Toast and other Philosophies of Life, which was released in May 2006 and in paperback in May of 2007. In the critically acclaimed bestseller, she offers a personal, heartfelt and often very funny manifesto on life, love and the lessons we all need to learn — and unlearn — on the road to happiness.

Among the many highlights of her career is hosting Saturday Night Live, which had USA Today commenting, “She gives one of the best and most energetic performances by a good-sport host in a long time.” What’s more, the sketches she participated in have become part of SNL’s Best Of. Other favorite roles include that of Sally Bowles in the national tour of the Tony Award-winning musical, Cabaret, and in Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues.

Of all her film credits, Teri Hatcher still considers the first film she ever made — The Big Picture, directed by Christopher Guest — to be her favorite. Other movies that followed were Soapdish, with Kevin Kline, Two Days in the Valley, Spy Kids, directed by Roberto Rodriguez, and as “Bond” girl Paris Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies, opposite Pierce Brosnan. Nor will anyone ever forget the line she made famous in Seinfeld, which was, of course, “They’re real — and they’re spectacular.”

Teri Hatcher is also well known for her involvement in worthy causes, helping to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities such as The Starlight Starbright Foundation, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Aviva Center in Los Angeles, CARE Humanitarian Relief Organization and the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance. She has also been a strong advocate of both AIDS Walk Los Angeles and AIDS Walk New York, and an active participant in the battle against breast cancer.

The gown Teri Hatcher wore to the 2005 Golden Globe Awards was sold at auction to benefit Clothes Off Our Back, as was a Versace couture dress from an In Style Magazine cover shoot.

Among her pop culture honors, Teri Hatcher has had the distinction of being the most downloaded image on the internet the year she posed wrapped in Superman’s cape — and nothing else!

Celebrity Bet: Pete Wentz

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:28:00 +0800

When they’re not building their own man caves they’re tattooing each other’s faces on their calves. Barely a day goes by when I don’t see some dude in a tattoo parlor getting the face of another dude permanently inked on his arm. It’s like… when is this gonna stop? Okay, so it’s not exactly a trend yet, but I sure am hoping it becomes one.

Pete Wentz got the face of his friend, Cobra Starship frontman Gabe Saporta, tattooed on his upper ankle/lower calf. That’s some masculine confidence right there. Why? Well for the natural reason guys do dumb things: Pete Wentz lost a bet.

According to MTV.com, the Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz isn’t just a friend to Cobra Starship frontman Gabe Saporta — he’s also his label boss and friendly rival. As a result, the two have been maintaining a prank war for the past few months, culminating in a recent victory for Saporta. Paying up on a bet he made a few months ago, Pete Wentz got a new tattoo on his leg — a tattoo of Saporta’s face.

“Well, I promised Gabe if ‘Good Girls Go Bad’ went platinum, I would let him pick a tattoo to put on me,” Wentz said in a statement. “A man with such humble beginnings, of course, chose a self-portrait.” As a result, there is now a permanent mark on Wentz’s calf that features Saporta’s face and the inscription “Gabey Baby Made Me Go Bad.”

This is merely the latest shot in the public prank war that has been going on between Pete Wentz and Saporta for months. Last month at the MTV Video Music Awards, Wentz wore a T-shirt that revealed Saporta’s phone number, and while he was unable to reveal all the digits on the live broadcast, Saporta’s number still got out there, forcing him to change it.

Gabe Saporta struck back a few weeks ago at Los Premios MTV, where he announced Wentz’s e-mail address (in Spanish!) during the broadcast.

For those keeping score at home, Gabe Saporta is definitely in the lead, though according to Wentz, there may still be more to come. “I held through with the bet,” Pete Wentz said. “But let’s see if Gabe holds through with his end of the bet if Hot Mess goes gold.”

About Pete Wentz: Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III is the bassist and primary lyricist for the Chicago-based band Fall Out Boy. Pete grew up in the Chicago punk rock scene, and was in several bands before Fall Out Boy, including Firstborn, Arma Angelus, 7 Angels of the Apocalypse / Culture of Violence, Extinction, Forever Ended Today, and Yellow Road Priest.

In 2002, After playing in a handful of local bands, Pete Wentz and guitarist Joe Trohman hook up with vocalist/guitarist Patrick Stump to form Fall Out Boy. "We were all playing in different hardcore bands on the same scene with each other," Pete Wentz later tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Within a year, they're signed by California indie label Uprising Records. In 2002, they release their first album, Fall Out Boy's Evening Out with Your Girlfriend.

In 2003, Fall Out Boy releases Take This To Your Grave. Many of the album's lyrics center on Wentz's ex-girlfriend cheating on him with two of his friends the same weekend while Wentz was on tour. Wentz later tells the Pittburgh Post-Gazette, "It was very, very cathartic. When somebody hangs up on the phone when you're 2,000 miles away from them, you have no recourse. The only reaction there is, is a pen. There's nothing else that you can do." The album becomes one of the best-selling indie records of 2003.

February 2005, Pete Wentz takes a near-lethal dose of Ativan anxiety pills while sitting alone in his sister's car in a Chicago area parking lot. "I just wanted to have my head shut up," he later tells the UK's Independent. "I was either totally anxious or totally depressed." Wentz's suicide attempt later inspires the song, "7 Minutes In Heaven (Atavan Halen)," and he becomes a spokesperson for the Jed Foundation's Half Of Us campaign, promoting mental health for students.

Fall Out Boy releases From Under the Cork Tree, which debuts at No. 9 on the Billboard charts, and eventually goes double platinum. It spawns two Top Ten hits with "Sugar, We're Going Down" and "Dance, Dance," a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, and a big tour with Panic! at the Disco – a band Pete Wentz discovered and signed to his Decaydance record label.

Fueled largely by the hits "This Ain't a Scene, It's An Arms Race" and "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs," Fall Out Boy's Infinity on High debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard charts and goes platinum in a little over a month. In March, Pete Wentz and his bandmates appear on the cover of Rolling Stone. Soon after, he opens the nightclub Angels &; Kings in New York's East Village.

In 2008, Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson announce their engagement. "We wanted our fans to be the first to know, because you guys are the best," Ashlee Simpson says in a statement. "Yes, we are thrilled to share that we are happily engaged." The announcement is followed by persistent pregnancy reports, which they initially deny. On May 17, the pair marries in an intimate ceremony at Ashlee Simpson's parents' L.A. area home before confirming that they are, in fact, expecting their first child.

Moreover, Pete Wentz has a company called Clandestine Industries, which distributes books and, more notably, clothing, among other things. Additionally, he owns his own imprint of Fueled By Ramen, Decaydance Records, which has signed on several bands, including: Panic! At The Disco, October Fall, Gym Class Heroes and The Hush Soundand Lifetime. He also has a film production company called Bartskull Films, which has released the DVD "Release the Bats", a film about Peter, his friends both in and outside of Fall Out Boy, and many Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen bands.

Celebrity Poker: John Mayer

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Wed, 12 May 2010 15:37:00 +0800

There's something about a man and his guitar that makes women take notice, but that's not the only reason John Mayer comes off as a ladies' man. He also possesses the poetic skills to woo any lady. His songs frequently deal with love, loss and other mushy things that the fairer sex soaks up.

Celebrity poker player John Mayer is having a concert here in the Philippines with the sponsorships of Channel V and Metro Card Club which is a texas hold'em poker club at the MOA (Mall Of Asia) Concert Grounds.

After displaying an impressive repertoire of original songs and melodies, several music labels offered John Mayer recording deals in 2000. He eventually signed with Aware/Columbia Records and released his debut album, Room For Squares, one year later. With his blues-influenced sound and deep lyrics, the album was received like no other in recent memory. Tracks like "Your Body is a Wonderland" and "No Such Thing" became instant hits and helped Room For Squares go triple platinum in two years.

Amazingly, the album stayed in the Billboard Top 200 for 80 weeks straight, thanks partly to a resurgence in sales after John Mayer won a Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Grammy for "Your Body is a Wonderland" in 2003.

Before his success in the music industry, John Mayer's parents hired a guitar teacher. However, they soon discovered that lessons had become more like informal jam sessions. Disappointed, they discontinued the lessons and John Mayer had to revert to playing guitar by ear. This turned out to be a good thing though, as his love for music only grew. By age 15, he was playing at local blues bars and fine-tuning his talent.

In the meantime, John Mayer toured extensively in America and Europe, gaining acclaim as an excellent live performer. He penned new tracks while on the road and once the touring was done, he compiled the work into a second album, entitled Heavier Things. The track "Bigger Than My Body" became a radio staple and ensured John Mayer's longevity through 2004 and beyond. Most recently, he has returned to the stage, playing shows in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and even Japan.

All is set for the May 16, 2010 John Mayer concert Live in Manila until today, It was cancelled. Since last week, rumor has it that the Manila tour will not be pushed through due to some circumstances. I called Channel V to confirm if this was true and they said they are still confirming on Mayer’s team about it. But an interesting information just came in when I check my twitter account and found out that Tim Yap is confirming the cancellation of the concert.

On John Mayer’s website, they pulled out the Manila schedule which is supposedly MAY 16. Ticket holders may opt to keep their ticket or refund–landline is 9292151. However, John Mayer concert in Manila is moved from May 16 to October 1, 2010 8:00 PM at MOA Concert Grounds.

With more tours on the way, John Mayer has shown that he is a man on a mission. This fresh face in music has grown right before our eyes and has become one of the biggest names in the biz. Let's hope it's only uphill from here on in.

Celebrity Poker: Sacha Baron Cohen

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Fri, 7 May 2010 12:03:00 +0800

Celebrities donned their poker faces at a celebrity poker tournament to raise funds for a notable organizations and foundations one of the Hollwood's A-list celebrity star is the funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen. As a former male model who stands at 6' 3", Sacha Baron Cohen likely attracted the occasional female eye before he found fame.

We call him a comedian because he makes us laugh, but celebrity poker player Sacha Baron Cohen is not a comedian, any more than the alter-egos that have made him famous -- Ali G, Borat and Bruno. Now, he's married to Isla Fisher, the super hot redhead and a hilariously talented actress, and together they have a daughter.

Aside from PR stunts to promote his films, Sacha Baron Cohen is rarely seen in public and has rarely given a straight interview.

Sacha Baron Cohen's work has earned him nominations from several film and television organizations on both sides of the Atlantic. He has received nominations for an Oscar, for Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Emmys, and many more, even winning one or two along the way. In addition to his own films, Cohen has voiced the role of Julien in the movie Madagascar in 2008 films and appeared alongside Will Ferrell in flicks like Talladega Nights in 20006.

He has already made millions in his field and has established a bar for fearlessness in film that seems unbelievably high. The question remains, however, of whether or not he can escape the shadows cast by his alter egos and establish an acting career independent of them.

Out of college, Sacha Baron Cohen decided to pursue a career doing what he truly loved but rarely did in an official capacity -- entertain. Specifically, do comedy. Perhaps his Orthodox upbringing, or his years as a diligent student, made him believe it wasn't the most noble of pursuits, so he set a five-year deadline for himself -- if it didn't work out in that time, he would find a job more suited to his education. His five years were almost up when Channel 4 gave him that all-important break.

When Channel 4's The 11 O'Clock Show needed a host, Cohen auditioned -- rather, Ali G auditioned, in all his foul-mouthed arrogance. His persona landed the spot as host of the show's "Voice of Youth" segment. It didn't take long for the segment to catch fire, and shortly Ali G was given his own show, Da Ali G Show. Displaying his keen PR sense, before it debuted Cohen cranked up the buzz by releasing a video, Ali G, Innit. A best-seller, the video had fans in a frenzy for the debut. He stoked the fire by releasing two more videos, and in 2002, a full-length feature, Ali G Indahouse.

In 2007, Sacha Baron Cohen released Borat: Cultural Learnings from America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which pretended to follow the hapless Borat across the U.S. looking for the love of his life, Pamela Anderson. The film was a sensation, grossing $261 million over 14 times its cost, and earning Sacha Baron Cohen an Oscar and a host of legal problems.

Specifically, he was sued by an etiquette coach, a driving instructor, southern frat boys, some Romanian villagers, even a Manhattan businessman whose personal space Borat violated, causing the man to scamper away. All appeared in the movie after unwittingly falling for Borat's ruse, and none liked what they saw of themselves.

In late 2008, Sacha Baron Cohen publicly announced that he was killing off Borat and Ali G -- their enormous fame had subverted their effectiveness. By then, he'd finished filming the mockumentary Bruno, released in early July 2009. The film presents the same sucker scenarios that elevated Borat and uses the same underhanded scheme: feed on his prey's weaknesses and exploit them for effect.

In one scene, Paula Abdul is lured to an interview with Bruno after having been informed that she'd been named Artist of the Year in Austria. It's hard, for us in the audience, to believe that someone like Abdul, who had done little to nothing artistically, could accept without question that she was deserving of the award.

Yet as Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen's traps remain as simple as they are cunning, baiting his prey to drop their guard and to confuse the roles of predator and prey. The result is comedic genius from an otherwise unfunny and deadly serious artist.

Celebrity Poker: Katy Perry

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Wed, 5 May 2010 15:48:00 +0800

Katy Perry has a great glam-girl look going with her jet-black hair and painted red lips, despite being a natural blonde. Because she's young, there's a certain innocent air about her, but her straightforward demeanor and her sense of style make her seem equally grounded and confident and now she's making a name in the poker industry!

Yep, I was once watching celebrity poker player Katy Perry's “Waking Up In Vegas” when I saw Daniel Nugreanu playing poker! Katy Perry grew up singing in a choir, going to Christian schools, attending Christian camp, and listening to gospel music. Her mother banned “secular music” from the house.

So when exactly did she find time to kiss a girl, like it and write a chart-topping song about it? We’re guessing what happens in Christian camp, stays in Christian camp. While the song was released in 2008, Perry embarked on the Hello Katy Tour in January of 2009, was nominated for as Grammy for “I Kissed a Girl” and won Best International Female Artist at the 2009 BRIT Awards.

Katheryn Hudson a.k.a Katy Perry admits she wasn't a "good little church school", and often marched to the beat of her own drum. She was a tad rebellious and loved her Queen album, which she says served as a huge inspiration for her to become a singer. At the age of 15 she moved from birth town Santa Barbara, Calif. to Nashville to work closely with songwriters.

Red Hill Records' Steve Thomas and Jennifer Knapp signed her to the label to release her debut album which was self-titled while she used her name Katy Hudson. In 2001, when she was just 17 years old, Katy Perry released her first album, a Christian self-titled CD with a true gospel sound. She then experimented as a solo musician as well as singing with a live band.

Katy Perry's songs were picked up for various soundtracks along the way, including for MTV's The Hills, with Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag, as well as for the flick The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in 2005 with Blake Lively. However, she was still waiting for her big break.

At 17, Katy Perry met Glen Ballard who is responsible for the extreme success of Alanis Morissette in the album "Jagged Little Pill". Citing Morissette as one of her influences, Perry found comfort in working with Ballard who then gave her necessary mentor. In 2004 she became the vocalist of The Matrix production team and recorded some songs with Ballard that made her dubbed "The Next Big Thing" by Blender magazine. Through her sessions with Ballard, Perry was heard by Capitol Music executive, Jason Flom who then agreed to sign her in Spring 2007.

It finally came when Katy Perry attracted the attention of well-known record agency Virgin Records, and they signed her. It was a long haul but, in 2007, Katy Perry began recording her second album, One of the Boys, which included the hit singles "UR So Gay" and "I Kissed a Girl." The album was released in 2008, and a song from it was used on the soundtrack for the comedy flick Baby Mama, starring Amy Poehler and Tina Fey.

Also in 2008, Katy Perry decided to try her hand at acting and appeared in one episode of the television show Wildfire. That summer, she joined musical acts like Gym Class Heroes and Reel Big Fish in the 2008 Warped Tour. She appeared on The Young and the Restless in June 2008 as well, adding to her modest but growing acting resume.

"I definitely want to make a follow-up pop, fun record. I'm not looking to alienate my fans, but I can't be that grown-up Shirley Temple girl wearing the stupid strawberry in her hair all the time ... because I'd kill myself or someone else would for me," – Katy Perry.

Celebrity Poker: Don Cheadle

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:28:00 +0800

Ante Up for Africa co-founder Don Cheadle has signed on a renonwed online poker room Full Tilt Poker. Celebrity poker player Don Cheadle is one of the world’s leading actors and has appeared in the hit movie “Crash” as well as the “Oceans Eleven” trilogy. Don Cheadle may not have much, if anything, for major tournament cashes, but he's no stranger to poker. He's played in televised events such as the NBC National Heads-Up Championship and Celebrity Poker Shoot-Out.

The poker world sat up and took notice in 2007 when he was paired against Phil Ivey in the first round of the NBC National Heads-Up Championship and managed to defeat one of the game's best pros. He went on to lose in Round 2 to Scott Fischman. NBC invited him back in 2008 and 2009 to participate again. In 2008, Don Cheadle was out in the first round after losing to Gus Hansen, but in 2009 he held his own against David Pham in the first round before being defeated in Round 2 by Paul Wasicka.

Celebrity poker player Don Cheadle, along with poker pro and Celebrity Apprentice finalist Annie Duke and Norman Epstein, created the charity tournament to benefit the humanitarian efforts in Sudan. Charities such as “The Enough Project”, “Not on Our Watch” and the “International Rescue Committee” have been awarded over $2 million in donations as a result of Ante Up for Africa events.

“I’ve done alright in the televised tourneys I’ve participated in and I’ve won several tournaments around town. I have yet to play in the WSOP events, but I hope my schedule will permit me to do so in the future,” said Don Cheadle.

About Don Cheadle: Being recognized by a major publication as a cool dude would definitely up his sex appeal factor as far as the ladies are concerned, He made his big-screen debut in 1985's Moving Violations and landed guest roles on shows like Fame, L.A. Law and Hill Street Blues before appearing in the 1987 Vietnam War-drama Hamburger Hill.

Don Cheadle is known for his roles in a number of high-profile films, including Boogie Nights in 1997, Traffic in 2000, Hotel Rwanda in 2004, Crash in 2005, and Traitor in 2008. He also portrays Basher Tarr in the Ocean's Eleven series and cowrote Not On Our Watch: The Mission To End Genocide In Darfur And Beyond in 2007.

In 2002, Don Cheadle found himself back on TV guesting on The Bernie Mac Show, MAD TV and episodes of ER. He added a number of high-profile movie roles to his resume in 2004, including appearances in Ocean's Twelve for which he earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. In 2005, he coproduced and costarred with Sandra Bullock and Matt Dillon which picked up the Oscar for Best Picture of 2006.

Moved by the horrific situations in Darfur and Rwanda, Don Cheadle spent the next couple of years campaigning for an end to the genocide. That same year, he costarred with Adam Sandler in Reign Over Me, and logged in another appearance as Basher in Ocean's Thirteen. As for blockbusters on the horizon, Don Cheadle has been tapped to replace Terence Howard as Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes and the silver Iron Man in the Iron Man franchise with Robert Downey Jr.

Don Cheadle will make his directorial debut with the adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Tishomingo Blues. He also appeared in NFL commercials promoting the Super Bowl from 2002–2005. Don Cheadle has been in a relationship with actress Bridgid Coulter since the early-90s; they have two daughters, Ayana and Imani.

Celebrity Poker: Jessica Simpson

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:29:00 +0800

I think half the celebrities in the world must play poker, as can be seen on various TV shows specially devoted to this, now they're heading up for the celebrity charity poker tournaments. One of the promising scorching hot celebrity poker player now with the flash texas hold'em poker game endorser is Jessica Simpson.

Jessica Simpson used to be famous for being the believable virgin of the turn-of-the-millennium teenage pop sensations; she's more famous these days for being "sexual napalm", thanks to ex-boyfriend John Mayer's remarks to Playboy. For better or for worse, Jessica Simpson's ex-boyfriend John Mayer beat her to the punch when he told Playboy magazine in an interview that Simpson was "sexual napalm." Simpson responded to Mayer's remarks on Oprah by saying that, she doesn't “want people to know how [she’s] in bed.” Fair enough.

With this background, it was only normal for young Jessica Simpson to participate in church activities and so she sang in the choir. Such was her gift that at the age of 12, she auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club. When she reached the finals, she froze and choked completely. Unfortunately, she didn't get the job.

Jessica Simpson sang and sold her home-recorded album after performances. This was a winning formula and while she was still in junior high, Jessica was performing with famous gospel acts like Kirk Franklin and Ce Ce Winans. It wasn't only Christian music fans who got into her music; pop lovers everywhere were being charmed by her voice. This was just the encouragement Jessica needed to pursue a middle-of-the-road pop music career. Sure enough, news of Jessica's success reached important people in the industry. Tommy Mottola of Columbia Records/Sony Music was one of them and he was stunned by Jessica Simpson's voice and skills.

After signing up with the music giant, her debut album, Sweet Kisses, was released in 1999, giving way to the singles "I Wanna Love You Forever" and "I Think I'm In Love With You." She then hit the road and showed audiences worldwide what the Jessica Simpson craze was all about. Jessica Simpson joined boy band 98 Degrees on its tour and it didn't take long for her to fall in love with one of its members, Nick Lachey. Their budding romance only helped the release of their duet, "Where You Are," of Sweet Kisses.

In June 2001, her sophomore album Irresistible was released. The title track was a smash hit and it went as high as No. 3 on the Top 40 chart. After some remixes, her third album In This Skin was released in August 2003. However, Jessica Simpson's life was about to take a drastic turn. Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey finally got married in October 2002, and the celebrity marriage was rejoiced in gossip columns everywhere. As a result, MTV offered the couple a reality show based on their everyday life as a couple, much like The Osbournes.

The deal was struck and August 2003 marked the debut of Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica. Although the show overshadowed Jessica Simpson's new album, it became an incredible hit and it was picked up for second and third seasons.

Around the time of her marriage to Nick, Jessica Simpson appeared in three episodes of That '70s Show between 2002 and 2003 as Kelso's love interest. She also appeared on The Twilight Zone in 2002, all of which led the way for her 2005 big-screen debut wearing sexy "Daisy Dukes" in the film version of The Dukes of Hazzard (costarring Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott). The film coincided with the release of Jessica Simpson's remake of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walking." In 2006, she appeared in Dane Cook's film Employee of the Month.

Play poker with Jessica Simpson click here! http://hallpass.com/media/poker-with-jessica-simpson.html

Celebrity Poker: Milla Jovovich

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 15:58:00 +0800

Think celebrities do nothing but party all night at discos, binge drink, and get divorced? Think again. Celebrities more often prefer to stay at home for a quiet evening of board and card games like poker with their friends, just like Milla Jovovich.

Milla Jovovich is a supermodel, actress, musician, and fashion designer of Russian-Serbian- Montenegrin origin. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the “reigning queen of kick-butt” In 2004, Milla Jovovich was ranked #69 on Maxim magazine’s “Top 100 Hot List” and ranked #82 in 2005. Maxim also named her #11 on their list of “Hottest Nerd Crushes”. In 2008, she was ranked #90 on Ask Men’s Top 99 Women of 2008 List.

It goes without saying that celebrity poker player Milla Jovovich possesses an incredible amount of sex appeal, as befits her status as a former supermodel. In addition to her gig as a professional clothes horse, Milla established herself as a sexual being early on thanks to roles in risque projects like 1998’s Two Moon Junction and 1991’s Return to the Blue Lagoon. Even when she embarked on her music career in 1994, Milla Jovovich relied on her sexuality to grab the attention of the masses -- as evidenced by the sultry video for the single “Gentleman Who Fell.”

Milla Jovovich is the action hero after the last action hero, and she has become a huge star on the ultrawide screen by alternately threatening the world and saving it in films such as The Fifth Element in 1997, UltraViolet and the Resident Evil series. Milla Jovovich has been one of the stranger career arcs of our time: From being a child star and then taking over the Brooke Shields nymphette franchise, she moved on to supermodeldom, then became an independent film actress and ultimately an unlikely kick-ass superwoman who seems to have taken over the Stallone-Willis-Schwarzenegger saving-the-world business.

Though she spent the first five years of her life in the Soviet Union, Milla Jovovich and her family relocated to the United States and eventually settled down in Los Angeles. Her parents split up a short time later, and Milla’s mother -- a performer in her native Kiev -- briefly attempted to make a living as an actress before eventually taking on house-cleaning jobs.

Though Milla Jovovich picked up English within three months of moving to America, she found that many of her peers picked on her because of her accent and her communist background.

Milla Jovovich’s striking looks were in place virtually since birth, and by the time she was 9 years old, she had become a fixture within the modeling world’s auditioning circuit. After being signed by the Prima Modeling Agency, Milla Jovovich began popping up in a variety of print ads and other campaigns -- though it wasn’t until famed photographer Richard Avedon discovered Milla that big things started to happen for her.

She was immediately placed alongside two other models in a campaign for Revlon makeup, and Milla Jovovich quickly found herself being asked to pose for such prestigious names as Donna Karan and Versace.

Milla Jovovich has played Joan of Arc, a supreme being, and a genetically transformed superweapon and/or savior, but this year she’s kicking butt in a more down-to-earth way, in MGM’s The Perfect Getaway, in which she plays a terrorized honeymooner who strikes back, and in The 4th Kind, a conspiracy-theory thriller set in Alaska. She’s also shooting Keep Coming Back, the directorial debut of the great actor William H. Macy, where she plays a former stripper.

Milla Jovovich’s stint as Alice in the hugely popular Resident Evil series only confirmed her A-list status.

Celebrity Poker: Woody Harrelson

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:35:00 +0800

Woody Harrelson could so easily have remained the adorable goof behind America’s favorite bar forever. It’s hard to believe now, but for a while playing Woody Boyd on the sitcom Cheers seemed like the summit of Harrelson’s career. But the Texas-born yearling made quick work of landing choice film roles in Hollywood after the iconic Boston bar shut down operations in 1993.

Woody Harrelson went from starring in one of the most violent, experimental, and relentlessly criticized films of the 1990s Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers to starring in one of the most violent, experimental, and universally praised films of the the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men in 2007, with an Oscar-nominated turn as Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt in Milos Forman’s The People vs. Larry Flynt in between.

Celebrity poker player Woody Harrelson has had an unpredictable, brilliantly bipolar career that no one—let alone the actor himself—could have anticipated. A handful of his roles in new films are equally disparate: Woody Harrelson plays a gratuitous, slapstick zombie-slayer in the satirical walking-dead comedy Zombieland; a loose-cannon doomsday prophet in the upcoming disaster epic 2012; and a casualty notification officer in the somber military drama The Messenger. It’s this last film, though, that Woody Harrelson seems to have particularly treated as a labor of love. He talks to his friend and poker partner Owen Wilson about The Messenger, as well as speeding, losing at poker, jumping out at roommates, and a number of other eccentricities he’s managed to pick up over the years.

OWEN WILSON: Hey, buddy.

WOODY HARRELSON: Hey.

WILSON: Where are you?

HARRELSON: I’m in the beloved state of Hawaii. Maui.

WILSON: Where?

HARRELSON: I’m at your house. [laughs] No, I’m up in my house.

WILSON: Sounds like you’ve had a good run of poker there. Last you said, you won three games in a row?

HARRELSON: Yeah, three times in a row. That never happens. But I’m also managing to pull the chute a little earlier and get the hell out before I give it all back and start writing chits.

WILSON: That’s always been the scouting report on you in poker: Not a lot of discipline. So I’m glad to see that you’re learning how to walk away.

HARRELSON: Yeah, I’ve got to look at your scouting report sometime.

WILSON: We’re probably the two worst players in that Maui poker game.

HARRELSON: It’s not that. We’re just the most trusting.

WILSON: We’re the most optimistic, the most hopeful.

HARRELSON: We believe in our own luck.

WILSON: It’s such a cast of characters that play in that Maui poker game. I remember our one friend saying it looked like the bar scene from Star Wars.

HARRELSON: Those guys are scoundrels, man. They sit there and pick you clean.

About Woody Harrelson: Woody Harrelson is quickly becoming America’s most versatile actor. Since getting his big break as dimwitted bartender Woody Boyd in 1985, this cagey star has convincingly played everything from a murderous psychopath to a crippled porn magnate to a lasso-wielding cowboy. And he’s done it with panache, infusing all of his characters with an authenticity seldom seen in American cinema. It’s little wonder then that he’s been nominated for a pair of Oscars and Golden Globes and has won an Emmy, an American Comedy Award, an MTV Movie Award, and an NBR from The National Board of Review.

Woody Harrelson picked up right where he left off in 1994 with starring roles in three films including I’ll Do Anything, The Cowboy Way and Natural Born Killers. Although the first two films received little attention, Natural Born Killers became an international phenomenon, thanks to its use of gratuitous violence and its biting condemnation of mass media.

Woody Harrelson returned to more standard fare over the next two years in the entertaining buddy comedies Money Train in 1995 and Kingpin in 1996 before breaking the mold yet again in 1996 as the titular porn magnate in The People vs. Larry Flynt. The provocative film was a huge hit with critics and earned Harrelson his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Woody Harrelson rounded out the decade with performances in a dizzying array of films. He played an emotionally disturbed military prisoner in Wag the Dog in 1997, an unlucky ex-con in Palmetto in 1998, a battle-hardened sergeant in The Thin Red Line in 1998), an opportunistic screw-up in Edtv in 1999 and an aging boxer in Play it to the Bone in 1999). He also picked up his sixth Emmy Award nomination in 1999 after reuniting with his Cheers cast mate Kelsey Grammer for a hilarious episode of Frasier. In fact, Harrelson enjoyed his brief return to the small screen so much that he signed on to play Debra Messing's boyfriend, Nathan, in seven episodes of Will and Grace in 2001.

Woody Harrelson has continued to show off his versatility in recent years by playing a lasso-swinging cowboy in A Prairie Home Companion in 2006, an ambitionless junkie in A Scanner Darkly in 2006, a prim male escort in The Walker in 2007, a washed-up basketball player in Semi-Pro in 2008, a blind piano player in Seven Pounds in 2008, a bounty hunter in No Country for Old Men in 2007, Management with Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn, 2012 an enthusiastic slayer of the undead in the surprise hit Zombieland in 2009 and his heroic movie Defendor.

Celebrity Poker: Vin Diesel

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:47:00 +0800

Vin Diesel has the obvious attributes that make women weak in the knees. With his box office movies, a great body, a manly voice and a poker shark! Celebrity poker player VinDiesel was once spotted at the 2nd Annual Dewar's 12 Texas Hold 'em Poker Tournament will be held in a prime, beachfront property located on the private island of Indian Creek Village, Florida. The upscale gathering will be about more than just poker, however; the night will also include a fashion show and jewelry exhibition.

And to give the night an added Vegas feel, the poker party will have its fair share of showgirls and dancers. Ther proof of this is in the list of heavyweight names slated to attend A-Rod's forthcoming charity poker tournament, which will benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Miami. Among the over 300 players expected to compete in the tournament are Michael Jordan, Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Lenny Kravitz, Vin Diesel, Gary Sheffield and, of course, Alex Rodriguez. Poker pro Phil Hellmuth will also be on hand to show the stars and other guests how the game is really played.

About Vin Diesel: Vin Diesel's list of credits is still relatively short, but that is only due to the fact that he got his big break in acting well into his thirties. However, the very nature of his movies and the wide young audiences they attract, have caused him to have a huge following internationally. He is in fact more famous than his work justifies. At least movie studios have caught on to that little piece of information. He got $10 million to star in XXX, a comedy action movie The Pacifier,a sort of spy movie, after The Fast &; The Furious garnered $145 million in US domestic sales at a modest $38 million production budget.

Before his name skyrocketed in the Hollywood scene, Vin Diesel's acting career occurred when he was 7. He and his friends had broken into a local theater, and rather than getting caught and reprimanded for trespassing, Vin Diesel and his buds were handed scripts and were offered $20 dollars per week, on the condition that they show up after school every day. This served as his first "real" paying job.

However, his road to success wasn't paved with good luck and fortune. The closest he came to acting professionally was in a Theatre of the New City production, in addition to several very off Broadway plays. Vin Diesel had to take on jobs such as bouncer at several exclusive New York City nightclubs in order to finance his film dreams. He had taken matters into his own hands when he left Hunter College in New York in the midst of studying for an English degree, in order to get an earlier start in filmmaking.

When his mother brought home the book Feature Films at Used Car Prices in order to encourage Vin Diesel, it pushed him to take control of his destiny and create his own movies in which to star. He did, and his filmmaking, writing, producing, and starring role in the film short Multi-Facial (based on his experiences of trying to make it as an actor) screened at Cannes Film Festival in 1995. It received positive reviews, and the extremely low-budget film -- at a cost of $3,000 in a total of three days of shooting -- led to bigger things.

Despite the lackluster success of his next independent feature, Strays, which was a Sundance entry in 1997, his performance in Multi-Facial was noticed by a certain important person in Hollywood. A well-known director and producer Steven Spielberg caught his performance in Mutli-Facial and created the role of Private 1st Class Adrian Caparzo in Saving Private Ryan for Vin Diesel. He also impressed the director of the animated film, The Iron Giant, and thanks to his guttural voice, he was cast as the voice of the title character in the 1999 film.

While it took a while for Vin Diesel to convince filmmakers to take him seriously, 2000 was a year of star-making roles for the actor. Two of his films opened on the same weekend -- the sci-fi Pitch Black and drama Boiler Room -- two roles that couldn't be more different in the acting range. Vin Diesel added yoga and pilates to his regular workout for his Pitch Black role as Riddick, while he saw his scummy role as Chris the telemarketer in Boiler Room as a way of redeeming himself for the job he once held as a telemarketer, selling overpriced tools.

The Fast and Furious is the working title to an upcoming film in the The Fast and the Furious film series, the fourth produced but sequel to the first and second and prequel to the third. The film is currently in production and is scheduled for release in mid-2009. The plot connects with the original film of the series from which Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster are reprising their roles.

It was in the summer of 2001 that Vin Diesel proved he could draw in audiences as a leading man in the testosterone pumped The Fast and the Furious. With 4 sequels, the film was tops at the box office and took in millions, and served to prove Vin Diesel's star appeal even further. After a low-key role in 2001's Knockaround Guys, fans gathered to see Vin Diesel in XXX, costarring fellow intimidator Samuel L. Jackson, and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, which was released in '04 and which Vin Diesel had a hand in writing.

Celebrity Poker: LeAnn Rimes

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:08:00 +0800

Singer and celebrity poker player LeAnn Rimes and boyfriend Eddie Cibrian joined other Hollywood celebrities at the 8th Annual World Poker Tour Invitational at Commerce Casino. The couple, along with the other stars, raised over $100,000 for charity and despite the tense and competitive atmosphere, they could be seen sharing laughs and engaging in some light PDA amid round after round of Texas Hold ‘em.

Meanwhile, it’s not all fun times for LeAnn Rimes. The 27-year-old country music star recently announced plans to release two new studio albums this year. The first, which will be an album featuring all cover songs by male artists, is due out in June. The second, which will feature original material, is due out later this year.

About LeAnn Rimes: With her hit single "How Do I Live" from the Con Air soundtrack and her 2007 track "Nothin' Better To Do," LeAnn Rimes rocks the country charts and never ceases to blow the industry away, all at such a young age. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, LeAnn Rimes won her first talent contest at age five and at seven she had recorded her first album. By then her family had relocated to Garland, Texas. She began honing her skills as a country artist performing on Johnnie High’s Country Music Revue in Ft. Worth, a popular show that featured local artists and national acts.

LeAnn Rimes recorded her second album at the tender age of 11. That project featured “Blue,” and caught the attention of legendary executive Mike Curb who signed her to Curb Records. By 13, she had a national hit. At the age of 6, she moved to Garland, Texas, where she was raised. Things really picked up for LeAnn Rimes in Dallas; she sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Dallas Cowboys games and at the National Cutting Horse Championships in Fort Worth.

LeAnn Rimes has always looked and acted much older than her age as she sings adult-oriented songs, which is partly due to her extraordinarily rich voice. She made an excellent revival of the classic "Unchained Melody" on her album Unchained Melody: The Early Years.

In 1998, LeAnn Rimes put out yet another album, Sittin' On Top Of The World and, a year later, a compilation album with remakes of hits originally sung by Patsy Cline and Janis Joplin. In 2001 marked the release of I Need You, which contained the track "Can't Fight The Moonlight," a song that was featured in the movie Coyote Ugly.

In 2003, LeAnn Rimes released a greatest hits album simply titled Greatest Hits, which went platinum in 2007. But then, LeAnn took a short break from stardom. It wasn't until 2005 that LeAnn Rimes made a comeback to country music with the album This Woman. It was her best-selling album in five years. A year later LeAnn Rimes decided to try dabbling in another musical genre and put out a pop album, Whatever We Wanna, however, due to the success of This Woman, the pop album was only released in Europe.

LeAnn Rime has won two Grammy Awards, including the first Best New Artist accolade ever won by a country artist. She has sold more than 37 million records, won an American Music Award, three Academy of Country Music honors and 12 Billboard Awards. She’s scored numerous hit singles, among them “One Way Ticket,” “I Need You,” “Nothin’ ‘Bout Love Makes Sense,” “Probably Wouldn’t Be This Way,” “Can’t Fight The Moonlight” which was a #1 song in 11 countries, and “How Do I Live,” which was the longest running single ever on the Billboard Hot 100, spending a record-setting 69 weeks on the chart.

She has written children books, acted in film and on television and has become a musical icon both in the U.S. and in Europe. In 2006, she released “Whatever We Wanna” in Europe, a successful pop album for which LeAnn Rimes co-wrote 10 of the 15 tracks. LeAnn has become confident enough as a songwriter to pitch tunes to other artists and has songs being considered by Faith Hill and Jamie O’Neal.

LeAnn Rimes has learned from the moments that have defined her young life, and she’s poured those experiences into her music. She’s no longer the teen with the big voice. She’s an intelligent, mature young woman with much to say.

Hot Celebrity Poker: Jessica Alba

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Tue, 6 Apr 2010 13:26:00 +0800

Hot celebrity poker player Jessica Alba along with other huge A-list Hollywood celebrities, played poker at Jamie Gold's Celebrity Poker Tournament in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, laost December. The tournament is being held in conjunction with the BodogFight: Season 1 finale, which is taking place at the PNE Agrodome started at 6 p.m. that night.

The private function will see the stars compete for a first-place prize of a 2007 World Series Of Poker (WSOP) Main Event buy-in worth of $10,000 as well as a staggering watch. The 2^nd place will receive a 2007 WSOP Main Event buy-in and third place will receive a complete Bodog Poker Set that includes a custom-made Bodog poker table plus a custom Bodog poker chip set.

About Jessica Alba: A gifted young actress, Jessica has already played a variety of roles ranging from light comedy to gritty drama since beginning her career 3 and a half years ago. She was in an episode of the acclaimed medical drama ''Chicago Hope''. This fall, she was also be seen starring opposite Freddie Prinze, Jr. as a pregnant teen in a difficult relationship in the ABC TV movie ''Too Soon For Jeff''. Jessica made her feature film debut in 1993 in Hollywood Pictures comedy ''Camp Nowhere''. Originally hired for two weeks, she got her break when an actress in a principal role suddenly dropped out.

She branched out into TV in 1994 with recurring role in Nickelodeon's popular comedy series ''The Secret World of Alex Mack''. She played an insufferable young snob, devoted to making life miserable for the the title character, played by Larisa Oleynick. That same year, she won the role of Maya in ''Flipper'' and filmed the pilot for the series.

Jessica Alba spent 1995 shooting the first season's episodes in Australia. An avid swimmer and PADI-certified scuba diver, Jessica is delighted to be doing a show which allows her to play with dolphins. The success of the first season of ''Flipper'' lead to the filming of the second season, which Jessica also starred in. Jessica involvement in ''Flipper'' lasted from 1995-1997. Since ''Flipper'' Jessica has appeared in a number of television shows and movies.

In 1996, Jessica Alba appeared in Venus Rising as Young Eve. In 1997, Jessica appeared on the ''Dini Petty Show'', a Canadian talk show, and talked about her role in Flipper and her general acting career. She began working on P.U.N.K.S., featuring Randy Quaid, in 1998. P.U.N.K.S. was just recently released on video in early January, 1999. In 1998, Jessica Alba appeared in several TV shows for an episode or two. In early 1998, she appeared in ''Brooklyn South'', as Melissa. A few months later, she appeared in two episodes of ''Beverly Hills 90210'', as Leanne.

Moreover, Jessica Alba appeared in two episodes of ''Love Boat: The Next Wave.'' She appeared in ''Teen Magazine'' in 1995 and various European magazines in the past several years. More importantly, she was just featured in the February, 1999, issue of ''Vanity Fair''.She also had recently major roles in two movies this spring. Never Been Kissed released on April 9 and Idle Hands on April 23.

Jessica Alba skyrocketed in 2000 when Oscar-winning director James Cameron chose her over 1,200 other hopefuls for the lead role in Dark Angel, his first project since helming Titanic. The sci-fi series became a huge hit with discerning critics and Alba went on to receive a Golden Globe nomination for her brilliant portrayal of Max Guevera, a genetically modified super soldier. Jessica Alba stayed on the program until 2002 when it was prematurely canceled by FOX due to declining ratings.

Today, Jessica Alba is one of Hollywood’s most promising young actresses, She had a career year in 2005 when she starred in three of the year’s biggest films including Sin City, Fantastic Four and Into the Blue. The three movies grossed a combined $531 million worldwide thanks to their entertaining storylines as well as their expert ability to showcase Alba in an endless variety of revealing outfits. Not surprisingly, the films also landed Alba within the pages of nearly every publication imaginable including Maxim, FHM, GQ, and People, who named her one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World.

Celebrity Poker: Orlando Bloom

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:24:00 +0800

Though We haven't seen him in many major roles up to now, but Orlando Bloom has already co-starred in two of the highest-grossing films of all-time. His profile will no doubt increase with his upcoming appearances in a couple of big-budget epic features, such as the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced The Pirates of the Caribbean, and Troy, based on Homer's Iliad and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, which is set for release in 2004.

Celebrities are now trying their stardom to poker, and Orlando Bloom looks like hook up to poker table to smash the pot! He was once caught playing poker together with Lead singer Keith Murray said they were not the only participants fleeced by Johnny Depp, asserting that there were rumors that Orlando Bloom had lost over $800,000 to Johnny Depp. Still, Orlando Bloom's debt may have been settled, and neither the presence of other debts nor any light-headedness the band felt in Depp's presence would excuse a legal debt.

About Orlando Bloom: Whether done up as the blond, blue-eyed, "dreamy-looking" elf Legolas, or in his natural dark-haired, brown-eyed unadorned self, Orlando Bloom has made millions of female admirers swoon for his chiseled good looks. Before going to a big screen, Orlando Bloom managed to struggle through St Edmund's School in Canterbury despite his dyslexia. In 1993, he moved to London and joined the National Youth Theatre, spending two seasons there and earning a scholarship to train at the British American Drama Academy.

Celebrity poker player Orlando Bloom began acting professionally with a television role in an episode of Casualty, and subsequently made his film debut in Wilde in 1997, opposite Stephen Fry, before entering the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he studied acting, sculpture and photography. In 1998, he broke his back in a three storey fall, and it was briefly feared that he would not regain the ability to walk. However, he made a complete recovery and was able to walk out of the hospital on crutches within twelve days. Orlando Bloom had steel plates inserted into his backbone to support it, which have since been removed, except for a single screw. He regularly practises yoga and Pilates to strengthen his back.

Just days before he graduated from Guildhall in 1999, Orlando Bloom received a telephone call from his agent that would ignite his big-screen career; he had originally auditioned for the role of Faramir in The Lord of the Rings trilogy who is only introduced in the second installment, and while he didn't win that part, he was instead cast in the role of Legolas Greenleaf. The shooting took place over a 14-month period in director Peter Jackson's native New Zealand; a long way from Bloom's home in England.

Orlando Bloom's acting has garnered some critical praise, and his turn in the first episode of The Lord of the Rings was selected as one of the Ten Standout Performances by Young Actors in 2001 by Movieline magazine. Orlando Bloom won in the categories of Best Breakthrough Male Performance at the 2002 MTV Movie Awards, and Best Debut at the 2002 Empire Awards, presented by British film magazine Empire. In 2003, Bloom can be seen in even more action-adventure flicks, including Ned Kelly, based on the life of the infamous Australian outlaw and folk hero. Orlando Bloom plays Joe Byrne, best friend of the title character, portrayed by Heath Ledger.

Jerry Bruckheimer's The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is set to hit screens in the summer of 2003, and stars Johnny Depp, Bloom, and his Ned Kelly co-star, Geoffrey Rush. In a bit of a departure from the adventure genre, Bloom will star as a British milkman who becomes a boxer in The Calcium Kid. December will see the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Orlando Bloom may soon be known as the prince of the epic adventure flick, as he's set to co-star in the Wolfgang Petersen-directed, big-budget epic Troy, based on Homer's classic, The Iliad. The film also stars Brad Pitt as ancient hero Achilles, and is scheduled for release sometime in 2004.

Celebrity Poker: Zac Efron

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 22:53:00 +0800

Can good actors make good poker players? The answer is yes!! As Zac Efron can do both! It was an unlikely meeting of minds that happened on last year night at the Crown Casino in Melbourne. American rock 'n' roll group the Kings of Leon went up against Hollywood heart-throb Zac Efron in a superstar game of poker!

Both celebrity poker players Zac Efron and the Kings of Leon had been staying at the Crown Towers luxury hotel at the Casino and decided to place some bets against each other. Zac Efron proved he was no slouch with the cards, emerging victorious after several hours of playing.The game got under way at Crown after Zac Efron's appearance on Rove and wound up about 3am on Monday.

Best poker player Joe Hachem said about Zac Efron, "He is pumped. He wants to have another crack, but I would not have the heart to beat him, I think he (Efron) was probably the most seasoned player of all of them, even though he was the youngest, I think he has won one or two small tournaments in LA. We were only playing for fun money, but it is the competition that counts”.

About Zac Efron: Zachary David Alexander Efron began landing roles in television shows such as “ER”, “CSI - Miami”, “The Suite Life of Zac and Cody”, and eventually became a series regular for the WB (Now CW) series “Summerland”. After Summerland ended Zac Efron took parts in movies such as “Miracle Run” and “The Durby Stallion” and in 2006 took part in a small film named “High School Musical”, the movie ended up launching his career worldwide, the movie also launched a number one soundtrack featuring the single “Breaking Free” with Vanessa Hudgens.

In the enormously popular Disney Channel movie High School Musical, Zac Efron played Troy, a popular basketball player who discovers a secret passion for singing and joins forces with a shy, brainy newcomer to audition for the school musical.

Zac Efron did however take all of this in stride and recorded his own vocals for “Hairspray”, which would be his first film after High School Mania had hit the movie grossed $27,476,745 it’s opening weekend and became the third highest grossing musical film in the United States. In 2007 Efron began work on the second High School Musical film which aired in August of 2007 on Disney and raked in 17.2 Million viewers opening night and became the most viewed basic cable telecast in history and over all over 88 Million worldwide have seen the film.

Zac Efron just can't seem to get out of high school. After repeat matriculation into High School Musical no less than three times, the gifted musician and actor with a sense of humor on the zany side, is returning to class yet again on screen in Burr Steers' 17 Again.

This split personality excellent adventure for Zac Efron and Matthew Perry, finds them as essentially the same guy sharing one body, but dividing up their before and after conflicted lifetime between adolescence and adulthood. Zac took in stride during our interview, the question as to whether Zac or Matthew as main character Mike, was having more fun.

Celebrity Bet: Sandra Bullock & Jesse James Divorce

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:51:00 +0800

It seems like almost every week we hear about another high-profile celebrity couple having problems with their marriage. The recent headlines regarding the Sandra Bullock and Jesse James divorces have thrust the online casino betting odds back into the spotlight. News surfaced yesterday that Jesse James has allegedly been cheating on his Oscar winning wife, Sandra Bullock. While many questioned these allegations, Sandra Bullock has since abruptly pulled out of the London premiere of The Blind Side, citing "personal reasons". The allegations claim that Jesse James cheated on Sandra Bullock with Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, though no evidence has yet to surface which has a sex tape.

"Due to unforeseen personal reasons a trip abroad to support “The Blind Side” has been deemed impossible at this time, I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you for your continued support of the film." Sandra Bullock said in a statement Wednesday. Jesse James and Sandra Bullock has a celebrity betting odds of 38 to 1 which means if you bet $100, you are going to win $3800.

In past interviews with ExtraTV.Warnerbros.com, both Sandra Bullock and Jesse James have spoken about supporting one another throughout their five-year marriage. "I'm not an easy person to know," Sandra Bullock once said. "But it took a man like Jesse to do it." Jesse James recently said, "It's pretty easy to support her, 'cause I love her." Meanwhile, the tattooed lady at the center of the breakup, Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, stands by the exclusive interview she gave to InTouch magazine detailing her affair with James. She was reportedly paid $30K for the story.

In it, McGee said she thought James and Bullock had separated when the affair began. But Danielle Medrano, founder of SoCalGlamourGirls.com and Michelle McGee's former boss, tells ExtraTV that Michelle knew Jesse James and Sandra Bullock were still together. Michelle McGee, whose age is listed as 24, claims she has a bachelor's degree in biology and finished two years of medical school. "Now, I especially love to have affairs with doctors," her page reads. "Their medical talk makes me hot! I love to be challenged, and I love to put know-it-all doctors in their place.

Danielle Medrano, founder of SoCalGlamourGirls.com, says Michelle McGee mentioned after a photo session last summer that she was dating Jesse James. Most of the jaw-dropping details are already out - James cheated on America’s sweetheart with a woman who worked as a stripper, dominatrix, webcam girl and tattoo ‘model’ and he didn’t just hit it and quit it. He had some sort of romantic relationship with the sleeze that lasted several weeks.

In the InTouch print edition, one detail in the print article that was that James and McGee watched the MTV Movie Awards together - which featured Jesse James’ gorgeous movie star wife, Sandra Bullock. McGee used this as evidence of the fact that Bullock and James were separated, but it was just as likely that he wanted to make sure he didn’t miss her appearance, as ironic as that sounds.

While Sandra Bullock never came up in conversation, Michelle McGee was with Jesse the night of the MTV Movie Awards, which Sandra attended alone. “In my mind, the reason he wasn’t there was because they were separated, says Michelle, adding that they watched her on TV together. After the show, Jesse and Michelle slept together. Though they always met in secret, and always at West Coast Choppers, Michelle didn’t realize Jesse was still married until a tattoo convention at The Queen Mary on June 7. There to meet her for sex, Jesse showed up at Michelle’s hotel room at little earlier than they’d planned and ran into Michelle’s pals Wendy Kay and her husband, who were mutual friends of his. “It was awkward,” Wendy tells In Touch. “He knew he was caught.”

Celebrity Poker: Sam Worthington

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:42:00 +0800

Now here's someone who can really get the respect of both the poker and Hollywood celebrity worlds in an instant! Thanks to the hit movies “Terminator: Salvation”, and recently Osacars nominated movie “Avatar” from the director of James Cameron. Sam Worthington is becoming the hardest working man in the Hollywood.

In the interview of Esquire Magizine, Sam Worthington talks agbout his career, his other project and playing poker, here's some of the snippets:

And yet, it's not just about sizing up the competition, finding niches to exploit. 33-year-old celebrity poker player Sam Worthington who makes these lists and charts uses them as prods. ("I walked up to [Danish actor] Mads Mikkelsen and said, “I've seen every single movie you've done,” and he said,

“That's insane, but why?' And I said, “Cause now I know where you come from, I know what work you're good at, and I know damn well you're not doing that about me.” So if it's poker, I've got the upper hand.") They are a form of power. No other actors do this. Most actors are inherently lazy. (He knows, because he was once one of them.)

About Sam Wothington: Sam Worthington began his career in acting by supporting his girlfriend in her audition into a drama school. Sam Worthington was accepted into the school, but his girlfriend was rejected, thus ending their relationship. Though it’s now hard to imagine him as anything other than a successful actor, Sam Worthington didn’t embrace the idea of pursuing a career in the arts until he was well into his 20s. Having dropped out of school at 17, Sam Worthington had been biding his time working a series of odd jobs -- though his path changed dramatically after he agreed to accompany a girlfriend to her audition for Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art.

After learning the ins and outs of the acting craft during his stint at NIDA, Sam Worthington emerged hungry for work and subsequently began auditioning for roles with gusto. He spent the first few months of his fledgling career appearing in local stage productions, with his onscreen debut coming in 2000 with a small part in an episode of JAG. For the next several years, Sam Worthington appeared in a variety of television shows and movies, including the 2002with Bruce Willis on Hart’s War and the 2002 Toni Colltte and John Goodman comedy Dirty Deeds.

In 2004, Sam Worthington received considerable praise for his turn in the unique and greatly acclaimed Australian drama “Somersault”, playing Joe, a sexually confused young man who becomes entangled with a teenage girl (Abbie Cornish). Written and directed by Cate Shortland, “Somersault” took 7 years to make, and naturally Shortland wanted to cast the perfect actor in the role of Joe. The film did amazingly well, making a clean sweep of the Australian Film Institute awards in 2004 to win in all 13 film categories – the first time this has ever occurred in the award’s history. It beat the previous record of eight AFI awards shared by Lantana (2001) and Newsfront (1978). Sam won the AFI for best male actor.

In 2005, he returned to American movies with a supporting role in “The Great Raid”, another WWII drama, this time about the liberation of American POWs from the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in the Philippines. In 2006 proved to be a particularly lucrative year for Sam, as the rising star took on the title role in a modern retelling of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and landed a starring role opposite Radha Mitchell and Michael Vartan in the 2007 horror flick “Rogue”, a suspenseful, ‘Jaws’-style thriller about a boat tour’s gruesome encounter with a king-sized crocodile. Sam Worthington played Mitchell’s rakish boyfriend, whose rescue attempts lead to a gruesome end.

His reputation as one of Hollywood’s most promising up-and-coming performers brought him to the attention of several high-profile directors, though it was James Cameron who ultimately cast Sam in his biggest production to date, and his first movie in over a decade, the science fiction epic “Avatar” in 2009.

Avatar is an action drama that blends groundbreaking CGI techniques with 3D technology in its storyline about humans in conflict with the inhabitants of a newly colonized world. Sam’s character, a paraplegic ex-Marine, undergoes an experiment to become an “avatar,” an alternate version of himself, designed to exist more cohesively in the new environment.

The massive project required the actor to split his time between location shoots in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The role in ‘Avatar’ afforded Sam the opportunity to share the screen with such familiar faces as Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Zoe Saldana.

Director James Cameron was so impressed with Sam Worthington's work that he suggested him to director McG for a role in “Terminator Salvation”, the fourth in the long-running and successful futuristic action franchise, and he soon found himself working side-by-side with Christian Bale and Bryce Dallas Howard.

Sam Worthington's sky-rocketing profile continued to reach new heights as 2009 progressed, with starring roles opposite Keira Knightley and Eva Mendes in the infidelity drama “Last Night” and “The Debt” both in 2009, about Israeli agents hunting Nazis. Just in the same year, He got also his first Teen Choice Award nomination for Choice Movie Fresh Face Male in “Terminator Salvation”, and he won the “GQ Man of the Year” award in Australia over Eric Bana and Russell Crowe.

Sam Worthington fantasy efforts were cheered by his casting as Perseus, hero of Greek mythology, in a big-budget remake of the Ray Harryhausen spectacular, “Clash Of The Titans” this year.

Celebrity Poker: Madonna

jannahstrat@gmail.com (jannah strat) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:18:00 +0800

Australian cricketer Shane Warne and prominent environmentalist Zac Goldsmith recently organized a charity poker event in an effort to raise funds. The list of invited poker players included such popular names as celebrity poker player and pop giant Madonna and famous Hollywood actor Hugh Grant. Funds raised will be allocated to the Shane Warne Foundation, a charitable organization working with problem children and Goldsmith's Ecology Trust, an organization distributing funds to environmental charities.

About Madonna: If Michael Jackson is the King of Pop, then the Material Girl is the reigning queen. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March of 2008, she has sold over 63,000,000 albums with 12 No. 1 hits. Madonna recorded 11 studio albums with two additional live albums and three soundtracks. Not only is Madonna one of the most accomplished female artists of all time, but she’s also a talented actress. She had parts in flicks like A League of Their Own and Evita.

From Material Girl to Kabbalah sexpot, Madonna is probably the most influential female musician of this generation. And she’s also one of the most diverse music stars, pulling off every possible look and being sexy each step of the way. Whether it's with classic blond hair, long, wild dark brown locks or boyishly short cuts dyed black, Madonna’s sexiness extends way beyond her looks. Plus, she’s also got a kinky wild side.

With her dominatrix-inspired music video for “Human Nature,” her book SEX and her array of cone-shaped bras that actually encourage us to stare at her breasts, Madonna’s got major sex appeal because of her willingness to push boundaries and explore her explosive sexuality.

Madonna Louise Ciccone Ritchie was born August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan. Her mother, Madonna Louise, is of French-Canadian descent and her father, Silvio "Tony" P. Ciccone, was a first-generation Italian-American who worked as a Chrysler/General Motors design engineer. She was the third of six children. Her mother died of breast cancer when Madonna was a little girl.

At a young age, she convinced her father to allow her to take dance lessons. When she moved on to high school, not only was she a straight-A student but she was also a cheerleader, and was offered a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan. Her dance instructor convinced her to pursue a career in dance instead, though, and with just $35 in her pocket, she upped and moved to New York City.

Maddona To Fame

In 1985, she entered the world of acting and appeared in her first flick, Vision Quest. The soundtrack boasted her second No. 1 hit “Crazy For You,” which was nominated for a Grammy. Later that year, she appeared in the movie Desperately Seeking Susan, and Madonna started her first tour, the Like A Virgin Tour. In 1986, Madonna released the album True Blue, which included the ballad “Live To Tell,” written for the flick At Close Range, starring Sean Penn. Four wildly popular singles followed: “Papa Don’t Preach,” “Open Your Heart,” “La Isla Bonita,” and “True Blue.”

Madonna’s fourth album, Like A Prayer, was a hit, but it elicited outrage from the Catholic Church. Racy songs like “Express Yourself” and controversial music videos featuring burning crosses created enough of a stir for Pepsi to pull out of a major endorsement deal with the risque artist. Her personal life was struggling too, and in 1989, Sean Penn and Madonna officially divorce.

In November 1995, Madonna released Something to Remember, a compilation album of ballads. Then, a year later, Madonna’s most successful film hit the big screen: Evita. Her two songs on the soundtrack were “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” and “You Must Love Me,” the later garnering her an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song From a Motion Picture. She also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy.

In 2000, she appeared in the movie The Next Best Thing, another flick with a Madge hit, “American Pie,” a dance-infused cover version of the Don McLean original. She then went on to release the electronica album Music, as well as record the theme song for the James Bond film Die Another Day.

In 2006, Madonna traveled to Malawi to help build an orphanage and filed for adoption of a Malawi boy despite much controversy over the conditions of the adoption (given Madonna’s celebrity status). That same year, she became the face of the clothing store chain H&M, which resulted in the creation of M by Madonna, her own clothing collection. Her Confessions Tour started shortly after.

On December 13, 2007, Madonna was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Justin Timberlake. Fellow inductees included John Meelencamp and Leonardo Cohen. Without skipping a beat, Madonna came out with Hard Candy, her 11th studio album. It boasted collaborations with Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Pharrell Williams, and Danja. The first single was the No. 1 hit “4 Minutes.”

In October 2008, it was announced that Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie, would be divorcing. In December, it was reported that Madonna would be paying out £60 million to her ex-husband in cash and property.

more pics from madonna: