Millions of players around the world play poker on a daily basis, among which are well known media personas, artists, but also famous athletes that have gained both recognition and wealth from their athletic achievements.
Poker is very common as a game among athletes, especially those who are into team sports, as poker is the perfect game to spend some quality time with their teammates during their long trips and the mane hours they are forced to stay in a hotel, before or after each game.
Of course, those that prefer the pure luck of gambling are many, but there also those who have spent many hours studying and putting effort into improving their poker skills and becoming better poker players. Some even have managed to practice and study so well, that they are considered to be among the top professional players in the world.
It is true that it is more common to see a professional athlete playing at a casino table, trying his luck in dice or poker, nevertheless, the athletes listed below have proven that they are very familiar with poker and besides being good athletes they have become great poker players as well:
1. Jan Vang Sorensen: Sorensen is a well known footballer from Denmark, who was forced to retire because of a serious injury he sustained. Sorensen achieved to replace his love for football with poker in the best possible way and has won over $2 million in his poker career, has 2 WSOP bracelets and won $800,000 in cash by winning 2008 Master Classics.
2. Teddy Sheringham: Sheringham is a famous English footballer with great success in poker. He has obtained nearly $300,000 in cash prizes since he started his professional poker career in 2005.
3. Tony Cascarino: Cascarino, another famous English footballer, completes the hat trick of the top three footballers of the list. Cascarino has won nearly $600,000 in his career so far with a large part of that ($283,412) coming from his win in the UK Grosvenor Poker Tour.
4. Shane Warne: He is a world class cricketer, more famous in Australia, since he was a regular for Aussie Millions. Warne is sponsored by 888 Casino, and although he has not made great wins in top-class tournaments, he has won over $50,000 in cash prizes.
5. Boris Becker: Famous German tennis player who is now into poker and sponsored by PokerStars. Becker has managed to be among the top players in at least three world class tournaments and win $40,000 in World Poker Tour Championship in 2009.