Want to know about the Secret World of Hollywood Poker?

I just got finished reading a fantastic article on THR called The Secret World of Hollywood Poker. I enjoy playing the game of poker, I love movies based around the game, but these people are in a completely different league than me, and everyone else for that matter. I can only imagine what it would be like to sit in on one of these games.

You've got big A-list stars and major Hollywood players gathering together at four-star hotels, homes, and casinos and the players include people such as Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Nick Cassavetes, Gabe Kaplan, New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, Jon Landau, Jeffrey Katzenberg and several others. "They are among the highest of the high-stakes players in this moneyed town: A-list actors, Hollywood hangers-on and businessmen who can shell out $50,000 just for a seat at the table. With eight or nine gathered, they play no-limit hold 'em into the night at one another's multimillion-dollar homes in Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood or Malibu."

No-limit hold 'em with a crowd like this? Holy shit. Just to put things in perspective... the amount of money these guys shell out at the table in a few hours I don't even make in a year! That's really freakin' sad. It's crazy! Hundreds of thousands of dollars are won and lost in a single night... sometimes in a single hand. 

Right now there is a big investigation going on surrounding the Hollywood poker scene. According to THR, "In March, players' names started appearing in court filings alleging that unbeknownst to them, they had been pocketing stolen money. DiCaprio, Affleck, Damon and Rodriguez have never been mentioned in connection with the litigation, and most of the high-stakes players who were have settled. But two high-profile cases are pending. A court-appointed bankruptcy trustee is seeking the return of $311,200 from Maguire and $73,800 from Cassavetes -- plus interest. Both have retained counsel, and Maguire's attorney has vowed to fight."

The THR article goes into heavy interesting details about how the games are run, and what is currently going on in the investigation, and how people feel about it. I highly suggest you read the article, it's long but you can do so by Clicking Here.

There are a couple stories at the end of the article that I will post below that gives you some insight inot the pros and cons of playing this game in Hollywood:

THE UPSIDE OF POKER: Poker has forged relationships and opened doors for Joshua Malina.

Poker has been good to actor Joshua Malina, who started playing in the 1980s at games thatAaron Sorkin hosted at his apartment near Lincoln Center in New York. Not only has Malina managed to win more than he's lost, but his career benefited as well. His friendship with Sorkin "was really forged across a poker table," Malina says. Eventually, Malina appeared in several Sorkin projects, including TV's Sports Night and The West Wing and the 1995 film The American President.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1992, Malina found his way into a home game hosted by actorHank Azaria. The game was "largely social, not super-high stakes," Malina says. "I was the one sitting at the table saying, 'For the love of God, whose deal is it? Are we never going to play poker?' "

Finally, Azaria called him. "I'm kind of mortified to have to do this, but I'm going to have to ask you to stop coming to the game," Azaria told him. "It's not coming from me, but you're a little too serious about the poker."

Malina says Azaria's game later became so much more competitive and high-stakes that Malina could no longer afford to join anyway. Sources say the buy-in is now $1,000.

Azaria eventually began hosting two games -- one for "well-heeled, really rich guys" and another for "civilians," according to Malina. It was at this game that he and fellow actor Andrew Hill Newman dreamed up what would become Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown in 2003. Azaria hosted the show, which aired 48 episodes until it ended in 2006. The game pitted celebrities against one another for charity. Malina and Newman were thrilled to get Ben Affleck to appear on the program. "We got very, very good people. The timing was just perfect," he says.

Malina has not played in the ultra-high-stakes games, though he says he was given a chance to enter that rarefied world. Once, a director offered to stake him $50,000, but he declined. "There's a concept of scared money where you go in there and you're shaking about the risk," he says. "I couldn't face that."

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THE DOWNSIDE OF POKER: A former actor shares his story of spiraling addiction.

Many years ago, the actor was a regular on a primetime series, and life was good. But when the show ended, he had to cope with a lot of free time and a great deal of anxiety. Texas hold 'em was a distraction especially suited to an actor. "In a game of poker, you become whatever character you need to be," he says. "The responsibilities of your everyday life go away. Your focus is on this game, and winning and getting the respect. … If you gain respect in a poker game, it gives you an edge. People will talk about the fact that you're a strong player."

But the friendly games "started to get bigger and bigger," and eventually the actors, producers and writers he found himself playing with had much more money to risk than he did. Still, he found it impossible to stop. There were days when he'd lie to his wife about having an audition or lunch meeting when he was really off for a game of hold 'em at Hollywood Park Casino. Once, he'd cashed his wife's paycheck to get into a game.

"It just feeds on itself," he says. "If you win, you cannot wait to win more. If you lose, you want to win the money back." At some point, he started to suspect that he was in over his head. "You convince yourself that as long as you're winning, it's OK," he says. "You keep a tally and do it in such a way that if the ledger gets discovered, it wouldn't be too incriminating."

In the mid-1990s, he called Gamblers Anonymous. "I think I've got a problem," he said. "I'd like to cut back. I'm gambling four days a week, and if I could cut down to three times a week, I'd be OK."

"You're not ready," the woman on the phone told him.

As with many addicts who overcome their habits, there was a bottoming-out moment. He'd been playing in a game in which $300 was a substantial loss and found himself down $960. "And I thought, I'm not losing $1,000 in a f--ing poker game," he remembers. He walked away -- only to find a $41 parking ticket on the windshield of his car. "It's a sign," he told himself. Though it's been 15 years since he has played poker, the rush of the game still tugs at him. He admits: "I think about going back all the time."