Online Poker

Shannon Elizabeth, best known as Nadia the foreign exchange student from American Pie, is going to Christchurch in April to see the sights and sounds of the Garden City and is keen to try her hand at a bit of Texas Hold’em while she’s there.

Elizabeth has entered the main tournament of the $500, 000 New Zealand Poker Championships at Christchurch Casino, and is a confirmed starter for the Christchurch Casino Celebrity Poker Challenge charity event.

Elizabeth, an avid poker fan, won the first ever Nicky Hilton Caesars Palace New Year’s Eve poker tournament last year. By outlasting all the big name pros and watching the celebrities and walk-ons fall aside, she left little doubt she is a poker champion of the highest calibre.

Stephen Lyttelton of Christchurch Casino says it is a huge coup to attract such a massive drawcard to the event.

“There’s little doubt Shannon Elizabeth will draw a big crowd to the 2007 New Zealand Poker Championships. Her opponents will have to be wary though, poker is a second career for Shannon - if they underestimate her they will get burned,” he said.

Elizabeth is also set to star in the movie Deal alongside Burt Reynolds. Deal follows a rookie poker player studying at Yale who gets taken under Reynolds’ character’s wings in search of glory on the big stage.

Aside from her notable poker and acting resume, Elizabeth has also been named one of Maxim Magazine’s ‘hottest women in the world’.

The 2007 New Zealand Poker Champs will be held at Christchurch Casino from 14-22 April, and will again launch with the popular Celebrity Challenge for Charity, where a host of New Zealand celebrities will have their best poker faces on.