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 | The Stars' Home Games
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Jimmy the Poker Geek: "Woods--now he's incredible," says Walters. "He's an oddsmaker in his brain."
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Or maybe the stars simply don't want to expose the lavish figures they win or lose every week? (Well, that theory, at least, doesn't hold. Most home poker games have relatively low stakes, especially compared with those of local card houses like the Commerce, where Ben Affleck won more than $300,000 in a Texas Hold 'Em tourney last month. The biggest loss at a Walters home game? $200.)
Instead, participants say, their private, invite-only games satisfy their thirst for two things: refuge from cameras and good, old-fashioned, up close, down and dirty competition--at least, competition without a casting agent in the room.
And the competition can get pretty nasty. "I've stopped playing with my friends," actor and Celebrity Poker Showdown player Michael Ian Black told the Hollywood Reporter recently. "When I'm playing, I'm not interested in socializing; I'm there to vanquish my foes."
Other star players can't seem to help spooking their fellow marquis-toppers. Take James Woods, a poker demon so bright and experienced he seems to scare his fellow cardsharps. "Woods--now he's incredible," Walters dishes, his voice dropping a bit in awe. "He remembers everything. He knows the odds of something happening every single time.
"He's an oddsmaker in his brain."
Other stars simply relish the chance to blow off steam.
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Queen of the queens: Sullivan ploys her felt moves with "writer friends."
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"It just gets crazy noisy in here," Walters says. "Especially when Harvey Korman is playing against somebody like Larry David. I mean, can you imagine what screaming is going on in here, when you have a table with Jonny Favreau and Richard Lewis on top of that? Forget it!"
Still, Walters says, he prefers that raucousness to the pall that might settle in if he opened the game to the dozens of agents and lawyers begging for entry. "I don't let civilians play ever," Walters says. "It would ruin the game's flavor."
Like most private game nights, Walters' started out not as a cinematic powerfest, but simply as something to do with his downtime. A New York native who moved West about 13 years ago, he missed the East Coast vibe and decided to invite some expats to his place for cards.
The inaugural players: Martin Landau (Brooklyn), Vince Edwards (ditto), Charles Durning (Highland Falls), Sid Caesar (Yonkers), Milton Berle (NYC), and Walters (Brooklyn College, class of '52). The host remembers that Berle was garrulous, while Caesar played a quieter game.
Today, even with more than 125 players, Walters still likes to collect cardsharps. When CGTV told him about Nicole Sullivan's enthusiasm for the home game, Walters asked for help getting her number.
"I would love to invite her."
James Woods photo by Ray Mickshaw/WireImage.com, Nicole Sullivan photo by Jeff Vespa/WireImage.com
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