2007 World Series of Poker

Event 55 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Holdem
Day: 3
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Event Info

2007 World Series of Poker

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
8♣8♦
Prize
$8,250,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$59,784,954
Entries
6,358
Level Info
Level
36
Blinds
400,000 / 800,000
Ante
100,000

Spiderman Needs To Keep His Secret Identity a Secret

[user10554]
[user10554]
Tobey Maguire (foreground, left) hides from ESPN's cameras while seated next to Sully Erna (foreground, right).
Tobey Maguire (foreground, left) hides from ESPN's cameras while seated next to Sully Erna (foreground, right).
As a long-time poker reporter, I'm familiar with Tobey Maguire's dislike of publicity while he's playing. He's very nice and friendly while he's playing -- until the cameras show up. That's when he'll hide his face, put his head down, or do something else to avoid a clear shot.

He actually put in a request to PokerNews on Day 2 that he not be photographed. We respected his wishes that day.

However, now that a major celebrity has finished in the money of the WSOP Main Event, it's newsworthy. The fact that he's seated next to another celebrity (Sully Erna, the lead singer of Godsmack) makes it even more newsworthy. If Maguire continues to survive deeper into this tournament, the cameras will be unavoidable.

Once ESPN's cameras showed up to record the two celebrities sitting side-by-side, Maguire got up out of his seat while Erna completed his hand. When Maguire returned, he was wearing the hooded sweatshirt you can see in the photo.

Why does Maguire want to avoid the cameras while he plays poker? You'll have to ask him. Perhaps he (or his publicist) thinks playing high-stakes poker would adversely affect his image. Or perhaps one of the things he likes about poker is how far removed it is from Hollywood; the photographers might remind him of the L.A. paparazzi.

Regardless of the reason, we wish both Mr. Maguire (currently about 170,000 in chips) and Mr. Erna (currently about 274,000) the best of luck as they go deeper into this event.

Tags: Sully ErnaTobey Maguire