Rock Stars Feel the Rush with Poker
by PokerJunkie.com
In recent years, the game of poker has skyrocketed in popularity due in part to televised poker. Shows like the World Poker Tour and the WSOP on ESPN did for US poker what MTV and later VH1 did for rock and roll. With the popularity of the game, it shouldn’t be any shock that many rock stars have decided to take up the game. Today let’s look at a few of those stars.
Scott Ian is best known as a founding member and lead guitarist for 80’s supergroup Anthrax. In addition, he helped pioneer the rock/rap genre with in 1991 when they did a crossover with Public Enemy. In addition, Ian hosted The Rock Show on VH1 and is currently rhythm guitarist for The Damned Things.
Ian made headlines in 2007 when won an entry in the Aruba Poker Classic and then started taking lessons with various poker pros. Soon after, he showed up and played in the World Series of Poker. This eventually led to him being signed by online poker site UB as a featured pro. Ian loves the game so much that he worked his tour with Anthrax around the 2009 WSOP Main Event. He literally flew back and forth to gigs on off days of the event.
There are many other players that enjoy the game as well. For example, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, Slash of Guns N’ Roses, and Vinnie Paul of Pantera and Hellyeah all play the game. Granted, they are not as into the game as Scott Ian, but they all regularly play. They are all very busy with their music and have to find time to squeeze in a game. That is where the internet helps. It has been well reported that they all regularly play Texas Hold em poker online and often host their own home games. This allows them the time to play without having to make significant changes in their lives or schedules to do so.
Playing in front of a hot crowd is an adrenaline rush like no other. Poker may not be played in front of a massive crowd as concerts are, but it can still give a great rush. Considering that many rock stars live for that kind of rush, poker would seem the obvious hobby of choice. |
