Ben Affleck: It probably isn’t necessary to explain who Ben Affleck is, but just incase you’ve been sequestered away in a casino for the last decade or so, here goes. Ben is an actor who, along with good friend Matt Damon, exploded on to the Hollywood (as well as global) scene with a film they co-wrote and started in called Good Will Hunting. From there Ben and Matt could practically write their own ticket for anything they wanted in Hollywood, and they began settling in.  Another famous joint effort of theirs is the organization slash television show slash contest Project Greenlight (www.projectgreenlight.com) where starving artist screenwriters and directors get a shot at the big time.  Ben has also been famous for a few high profile romances, notably with Jennifer Lopez, and his recent marriage to Alias star and producer Jennifer Garner.

Ben is one of those fellows that just Does Things Big, and it is really hard to not know what he is up to. As a result, he was one of the first celebrities that started making news for playing poker. When the novelty took hold and quickly became an assumed thing (that celebrities like to play poker) he was known, at least by those who played with him, as one of the vanguard of those stars who not only liked to play poker, but who were also actually good at it.

Ben took a spin on Bravo TV’s Celebrity Poker Showdown, but that didn’t prove anything to the home audience; it was pretty clear that the majority of the stars showing up on CPS were heavily coached by poker pro and co-host Phil Gordon. When the celebrities started showing up in the World Series of Poker events, they started to take on more credibility. Of course, stars at the WSOP is nothing new, just ask Gabe Kaplan. But for all the newcomers to the game, it started to validate the celebrities.

And then Ben had to top everything by winning the California State Poker Championship.  While not as visible a win as Jennifer Tilley’s amazing sweep of the WPT and WSOP Ladies Events, Ben Affleck taking down first prize and a huge (to everyone, perhaps, except him) prize check, it still cemented the fact, once and for all, that this is one celebrity who knows his way around the felt.