The Famous Poker Players Who Love Casino Games

Casino games have easily become fast favourites among millennials and gen Z even with several laws regulating the gambling sport. Statistics show that the online casino market has risen by 50% within the past three years and its value is expected to rise to almost $93 billion in 2023.

Quite possibly, this rise could be the reason why several professional poker players often love playing other casino games. Poker is mainly a game of skill and control rather than luck when compared to other casino games that mostly rely on luck. Casino games such as Blackjack, Baccarat, and Roulette are also high stakes games which makes poker players unable to resist its allure. Fortunately, some high stakes players endorse safe gambling. For example, this poker website recommends poker players to play responsibly only with extra money.

Without further ado, here are two famous poker players and the casino games they love to play.

Jake Cody

Jake Cody is an impressive professional poker player that is known for impressive wins at several poker tournaments. Wins which have no doubt earned him the moniker 'Machine'. Born on the 4th of July in Rochdale, England, the 32-year-old has amassed quite a fortune playing poker, having a net worth of $4.4 million.

He began learning how to play the high stakes sport at the age of 15 by playing for a pool team. For a long time, he kept playing behind the scenes to master his skills. He read books such as Phil Hellmuth’s Play Poker Like the Pros. He played his first live event at the $200 No Limit Hold ‘Em tournament at the Grosvenor United Kingdom Poker Tour. His performance was not too bad as he came in 6th winning £1740. Later on, he won the European Poker Tour held at Deauville, in 2010. He won the prize money of €857,000. Within the same year, he participated in the World Poker Tour London where he won about £273,783. His other poker successes include being voted Poker Player of the year, winning a WSOP bracelet in 2011 at the age of 21, winning 1 European Poker Tour title, winning 1 World Poker Tour title, and making it to the Three Final Tables at the WSOP. He's the youngest poker professional to win the Triple Crown title.

To think that all this success started from only $10. Jake built his bankroll from $10 and has not made any deposits ever since. His success is not limited to just the Poker games, he also loves to play Roulette. He’s not the roulette legend but he’s had some pretty impressive wins and here’s one which made headlines in 2018.

It seemed Jake had lady luck smiling down at him when he placed all his earnings (exactly £42,000) from the high roller UK Poker Championship in Nottingham. His bet was black and he’d simply done it because of the peer pressure. Just imagine how high the tension was. He managed to double his earnings as the wheel landed on 22 Black.

Phil Ivey

Phil Ivey, the American poker legend is no doubt one of the greatest poker players that have ever lived and is still living. He has won a whopping amount of ten World Series of Poker bracelets. That does not come easy and his effort has had him elected into the Poker Hall of Fame.

His nicknames include 'No Home Jerome' and 'The Phenom'. No Home Jerome came from his underage years where he used a fake ID to play poker in New Jersey. The Phenom started after he had won three WSOP bracelets in 2002. Some even call him the Tiger Woods of Poker. He began to hone his skills in the '90s by playing against his co-workers in a telemarketing firm he worked in at the time. This definitely taught him a lot as he's amassed about $100 million throughout his career.

He’s managed to be placed among the top 25 four times at the WSOP tournaments held between 2002 and 2009. His notable wins include winning three bracelets at the 2002 WSOP, winning several bracelets from the Pot Limit Omaha held in 2000 and 2005, defeating Texan billionaire Andy Beal and winning $16 million in three days. He’s the very first person to have defeated Amarillo Sam at a WSOP final table.

His list of accomplishments is definitely too long to recount them all. However, this awesome poker player also loves to play other casino games because he can spot flaws in the system. This is proven by his £7 million win in a game of Baccarat using a trick called Edge sorting which involves identifying cards via the patterns on their backs. He's also won $20 million in a different game because of a certain dealer issue. This level of genius makes him an all-around legend in my eyes.

Conclusion

Many poker players play other casino games quite often and this is often surprising because it's quite different from others. It is skill-based, rather than luck-based. Some have made considerable earnings while others have lost everything. For example, Archie Karas, the only poker player to have the largest and longest winning streak ever lost it all at casino games. However, because it is fun, the perfect stress reliever, quick and a great place to meet people, poker players often play these games.