Jennifer Tilly

Jennifer Tilly

When it comes to poker, Jennifer Tilly is anything but a light-weight. As was the case with her successful acting career, and basically anything she gets involved with, Tilly takes her poker seriously. So far, her attitude has been paying off big time.

Her winnings say it all - Jennifer Tilly is a WSOP bracelet holder and a fierce, competitive professional poker player. She won the Ladies' No-Limit Texas Hold'em event in 2005, beating 600 other players, 100 of them professionals. She walked away with US $158,625 in prize money. Later that same year, Tilly won the third World Poker Tour Ladies Invitational Tournament. Her total tournament winnings as of today exceed US $340,000.

Jennifer Tilly's breakthrough as an actress came in 1989, with the film The Fabulous Baker Boys. She played a small part as a singing waitress, and left her impression on many. She was later nominated for the 1994 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roll in the Woody Allen movie Bullets Over Broadway.

Jennifer has also contributed her unique and high-pitched voice to many animated films and TV shows, including the film Monsters, Inc. Current projects include regular appearances on the animated series Family Guy, where she is the voice behind Griffin family's neighbor, Bonnie Swanson.

When asked whether she uses her acting skills to her advantage at the poker table, Tilly smiles and states that acting skills come in handy in all strokes of life, and the same may be said of poker skills. She has also mentioned her education as a possible reason for some poker success. While attending college, Tilly took a course in game theory, and she applies many principles from that field to her poker game. Combining her brains, her looks and her acting abilities, Tilly brings everything she has to the poker table.

Poker has become such a big part in Jennifer's life, that she is even dating the poker pro Phil Laak. Laak got his nickname, ‘the Unabomber', by showing up to tournaments wearing hooded sweatshirts and sunglasses, in an attempt to keep a poker face at all times. Now Jennifer got her own nickname - she is known as ‘The Unabombshell', due to her great looks and her association with Laak.

Jennifer has stated many times that she learned almost everything she knows about poker from Phil Laak. ‘We talk about poker all the time. The last thing Phil says before he goes to bed, when he talks in his sleep, and the first thing he says in the morning, it's all poker-related.'

So what is Jennifer Tilly? Is she an actress or a poker player? During a recent interview for TV she announced that ‘at this point in my career, I'm more interested in pursuing poker than acting'. At the moment there is nothing to stop her from pursuing all of her talents to the fullest.

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