Tilly, an actress with cult appeal generated by her role(s) in the Child’s Play movie series, is an acclaimed and talented woman who has been nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in Bullets Over Broadway. But her acting career and vocal work for popular and well known animated shows like Family Guy don’t contribute to why I play poker.
Jennifer Tilly - The Unabombshell
The story goes that she was somehow introduced to Phil “The Unabomber” Laak and asked if he would teach her how to play poker. Laak responded by mixing business with pleasure and asked her out. There’s little evidence that they actually got around to any formalized lessons (unless Laak was using poker slang like “all-in” or “big stack” at terribly inappropriate times) because upon winning her first WSOP bracelet in the Ladies No Limit Texas Hold ’em event in 2005, she said that she learned all that she knows about poker from Phil “through osmosis.” I’ll reserve my off-color comment.
Tilly has since requisitioned herself to the sidelines of tournaments and televised cash games supporting her boyfriend. Even though winning a bracelet is, for Tilly, “better than [winning] an Oscar,” she has since discontinued her career as a poker player. In an interview with Bluff Magazine, she said, “I love poker but greatness in poker is an elusive dream. There are too many variants. Trying to find validation in poker is like trying to find a virgin in a whorehouse. I’m not giving up poker entirely — gambling is an addiction after all. I’m just going to treat it more like a hobby and less like a career.” An anonymous contributor at wikipedia.org added, “[she's] Still likely to have the biggest natural pair at the table though.” Classy.
There are three reasons that I play poker. One is money. The second is dominating my opponents. The third is to meet gorgeous, talented women who are sympathetic and enthusiastic about my poker career, women like Jennifer Tilly.
