Russell Westbrook retired from the NBA in August with the all-time triple-double record and, it turns out, a standing poker date. His Why Not? Foundation Poker Night returns for a sixth year on 18 September at Fontainebleau Las Vegas, with the WPT Foundation dealing and a $10,000 seat at his table. Globalpokersites.com has the full rundown of the event. What interests us is the broader pattern. Elite athletes keep ending up in poker rooms, and a surprising number of them turn out to be good at it.
Here is the crossover roster, ranked by how seriously they took the game. Not by fame. By results.
Football · Spain
Gerard Piqué
The Barcelona and Spain centre-back is the gold standard for athlete-turned-serious-player. In August 2019, still an active first-team regular, he entered the €25,000 single-day high roller at EPT Barcelona, a field full of professionals, and finished second for €352,950. Not a charity event, not a celebrity table. A real high roller, against real regs, and he was one hand from winning it. His teammate Arturo Vidal, playing his first tournament ever, finished fifth in the same event, which is either beginner's luck or a sign Barcelona's dressing room ran a very good home game.
NFL · USA
Richard Seymour
Three Super Bowl rings with the Patriots, a Hall of Fame jacket, and then a second career as a genuine tournament player. Seymour has multiple cashes in the World Series of Poker Main Event, the toughest 10,000-runner field in the game, and has been a regular in high-buy-in events since retiring in 2012. He treats it like a job, studies like a pro, and is not there for the photos.
Football · Brazil
Neymar Jr
Sponsored by PokerStars on and off since 2015, and unlike most ambassadors he actually plays. He made his World Series of Poker debut while still at PSG, sat in open events with the general public, and streams online sessions to millions. This July he was back at the WSOP in Las Vegas within days of Brazil's round-of-16 exit from the World Cup, and busted on Day 1, which at least made the trip thematically consistent. He has said more than once that poker is the thing he does to switch his brain off from football. Results are modest. Volume is not.
The ambassadors and enthusiasts
| Athlete | Sport | Poker credentials |
|---|---|---|
| Rafael Nadal | Tennis | Long-time PokerStars ambassador. Won a charity tournament at EPT Prague and beat the Brazilian Ronaldo in a televised heads-up match. Plays like he plays tennis: patiently, then all at once. |
| Boris Becker | Tennis | Played the WSOP Main Event as a PokerStars pro in 2009 and was a regular on the European circuit for years. One of the first big-name athletes openly sponsored. |
| Shane Warne | Cricket | The late Australian legend was an 888poker ambassador, a fixture at the Aussie Millions and a genuine student of the game. Better than his results. |
| Michael Phelps | Swimming | The most decorated Olympian ever has played WSOP events and private games for years, mentored by pro Jeff Gross. A competitive hobby, which for Phelps means seriously. |
| Chris Paul, Paul Pierce | NBA | Paul is the NBA's charity-circuit regular and has played Westbrook's event. Pierce went further and entered World Series of Poker events after retiring in 2017. |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Football | Signed as a PokerStars ambassador in 2015 alongside Neymar. Played the marketing role rather than the game, but the deal told you where sponsors thought the audience was. |
Why athletes and poker fit
Every major league bans active players from betting on their own sport, and the NBA showed it meant it when it banned Jontay Porter for life in April 2024. Poker is the one gambling format that sits outside that rule, because it is not sports betting. So it became the default outlet for competitive people with money, free evenings and a foundation to fund. The WPT Foundation has built a $50 million fundraising machine on exactly that formula since 2012. That is the whole story of the celebrity charity poker circuit in one paragraph.
Athletes do not drift into poker by accident. They find it because it is the one game left that will let them compete at something after the body says no, and the leagues will let them play it.
Where Westbrook fits
Westbrook belongs to a different category, and an honest one: the host. He is not chasing EPT high rollers and nobody expects him to. His event is built on the same formula the WPT Foundation uses: sell a small number of expensive seats, put professionals and celebrities at the same tables, keep the rail buzzing with a $1,500 general-admission tier, and send every dollar to a cause. Five editions in, his foundation has raised more than $2 million for education, workforce and mental health programmes in South Los Angeles, per the official announcement.
- 209NBA triple-doubles, the record
- 6thannual Poker Night, first at Fontainebleau
- $10ktournament seat, hotel night, two guests
- $2M+raised over five editions
What has changed this year is that the host is no longer an active player. That matters more than it sounds. An NBA star in September is normally two weeks from training camp and flying in for the night. A retired one can spend the week in Vegas, work the room, and lean on friends who are now also free. Previous editions drew DeMar DeRozan, DeAndre Jordan, Jason Koon, Maria Ho and Antonio Esfandiari with the founder still on an NBA roster. The 2026 list has not been announced. It would be a surprise if it were weaker.
Westbrook, five weeks retired, has just joined the club with a $10,000 buy-in and a hotel full of people who bought a ticket to lose to him. If you would rather play than pay for the photo, the club-app scene is where amateurs actually find a game these days, and Globalpokersites.com keeps the most current map of it.
Sources
Globalpokersites.com: Fontainebleau lands Russell Westbrook's charity poker night (original report)
Why Not? Foundation: Poker Night 2026
Business Wire: event announcement
NBA.com: Westbrook retires after 18 seasons
PokerNews: Piqué wins €352,950 at EPT Barcelona
PokerNews: Gerard Piqué player profile
Yahoo Sports: Neymar at the 2026 WSOP
NBA.com: Jontay Porter banned · WPT Foundation
