The World Series of Poker draws in poker players from around the world in a quest to win the ever-coveted gold championship bracelet.  As the popularity of poker has grown, players from all walks of life have taken up the game and among them are stars of music industry.  Let’s take a look at some of the music stars that have played at the World Series of Poker.

Rapper and R&B star Nelly has made headlines over the year for playing at the WSOP.  While he hasn’t made big money at the event as of yet, he did make headlines in 2010 when he made Day 2 of the event.  While that is far from the title, making it through Day 1 is a step that literally thousands of players fail to accomplish and it was a good first step.  Nelly is a regular at the poker tables in and around Vegas and he will likely be there this year.

Anthrax lead guitarist Scott Ian has been a regular at the WSOP Main Event for years now and has advanced past Day 1 of the event numerous times.  Ian has actually shown so much promise at the poker tables that he was tutored for a while by professional poker players Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke and even had a sponsorship with an online poker site.

However, the most successful musician to play the WSOP is Godsmack’s Sully Erna.  Erna has been coming to the WSOP for years and actually made the money of the Main Event in both 2006 and 2007.  His best finish was in 2007 where he place 237th.  While that does not sound like a huge accomplishment, Erna still pulled in over $45,000 for his finish.  Of course, that is still a far cry from the $8.25 Million that Champion Jerry Yang took home.

As poker continues to increase in popularity worldwide, don’t be surprised to see more music artist try their hand at the game.  Poker is said to have the adrenaline rush of performing in front of a 100,000 screaming fans, and the Millions at stake doesn’t hurt either.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Article first published on Diversity News Magazine Dot Com now known as DiversityNewsMagazine.org