Fans of professional sports and entertainment are now used to the idea of the world's
biggest performers enjoying poker as 🎅 a side hobby. Actors Ben Affleck and Tobey Maguire
are among the most well-recognized celebrity poker players, but plenty of 🎅 athletes,
from Rafael Nadal to Tiger Woods, have also made headlines because of attachments to
the game, and casino gaming 🎅 in general. Well, John Cena was among these poker athletes
and celebrities nearly a decade ago, and it's actually very 🎅 interesting to view his
comments on the subject in retrospect.In 2006, John Cena told Bluff that he became a
poker 🎅 fan and player as a result of the increasing exposure of the game, at the time,
in popular entertainment markets. 🎅 Specifically, Cena credited the televising of the
World Series of Poker, as well as the film(for which a sequel is 🎅 in the works ) with
sparking his interest. This is a fairly common theme among celebrity poker players, and
some 🎅 of the most established pros even credit these same things with helping to launch
their careers. This is fascinating to 🎅 remember eight years later. Given that Cena was
one out of tens of millions of poker fans to take up 🎅 the game in the first decade of
the 21st century, it's no surprise just how huge the poker industry has 🎅 become
today.But there are also aspects of amateur poker interest that have changed, and those
too are evident in Cena's 🎅 comments. When asked if he frequently plays while on the
road, Cena claimed his primary playing experience came at his 🎅 own home in games he
organized. Also, while wrestlers played card games on the road, it usually wasn't as
intense 🎅 as real money Texas Hold'em.For all we know that's still the case today, but
given the incredible rise of online 🎅 poker internationally and in parts of the U.S.,
it's also easy to imagine that people like John Cena have more 🎅 serious options while on
the go. Even in the U.S. there are options. Certain apps allow players to access
accounts 🎅 remotely and play casino games with real money on the line, which is a very
convenient option for athletes and 🎅 performers like Cena who spend a great deal of time
on the road. If 2006 saw pro wrestlers opting for 🎅 simple card games over full-fledged
poker competition, it's easy to envision them using mobile phones and tablets to get a
🎅 bit more serious these days.And finally, Cena made the somewhat-prophetic observation
that professional poker was becoming so popular that some 🎅 high-profile players were
beginning to establish themselves as performers and characters. They were almost, Cena
said, like WWE wrestlers. This 🎅 has only become more accurate over time. Poker News '
current #1 worldwide player, Ole Schemion, is known for a 🎅 sort of carefree college boy
style, often sporting fraternity-style sunglasses and sleeveless shirts and hoodies at
the tables; Chris Ferguson 🎅 was known for years as "Jesus" simply due to his appearance;
and even youngster WSOP winner Dan Colman has developed 🎅 a sort of persona simply by
being serious and soft-spoken. With so much focus on individual habits, appearance, and
performance, 🎅 it was probably inevitable that poker players would develop these types of
public personalities. But it was certainly an interesting 🎅 observation by Cena in the
relatively early days of televised poker.Ultimately, John Cena maintains a pretty low
profile among celebrity 🎅 poker players, and he has yet to make any noise at a major
event. But given how many pro athletes 🎅 and performers take an interest in the game, he
seems to have had an oddly perceptive understanding of the meaning 🎅 and direction of
professional poker over the years. Here's hoping he finds his way to a big time table
one 🎅 day!
