Shannon Elizabeth To Shine At The 2007 New Zealand Poker Champs
Shannon Elizabeth, best known as Nadia the foreign exchange student in American Pie, is coming 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 here.
Elizabeth has entered the main tournament at the $500, 000 New Zealand Poker Championships at Christchurch Casino, and
is a confirmed starter for the Christchurch Casino Celebrity Poker Challenge for Charity.
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. She even managed to ‘cash in’ at the 2006 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
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
says.
Aside from her impressive poker resume, Elizabeth has established an equally impressive record of acting
accomplishments, including starring as Ashton Kutcher’s love interest on the hugely successful That 70’s Show, an
appearance in Love Actually alongside Hugh Grant and she starred alongside Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in Jay and Silent
Bob Strike Back.
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.
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