Silly For Tilly

LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING: I was in love with Jennifer Tilly long before you were. After all, when did she first come to your attention? When she turned up as putative eye candy on the arm of Phil “The Unabomber” Laak? Maybe your history goes a bit farther back. Possibly you dug her sultry performances in Bound, Liar, Liar, or Bullets Over Broadway, or her voiceover work in Monsters, Inc. But me? I’ve been mad keen for Ms. Tilly since she played a sexpot Mafia moll on the classic TV cop show Hill Street Blues, and that was 20 years ago!

Okay, so I’m old. So sue me.

Lately, though, I’ve fallen in love with her all over again, the same way we all have: by watching her play cards. At first I thought, Sure, she has a talented boyfriend/teacher, but really, is she anything more than another Hollywood poker dilettante? I don’t see her winning any bracelets. But then, of course, she did. When she shredded the field of 600 in the Ladies No-Limit Hold ’Em event at the 2005 World Series of Poker, it became clear that the girl’s got game. And when she went on to beat Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier and the rest of a tough field at Ladies Night III on the World Poker Tour, it became obvious that her WSOP win was no fluke. Maybe she does have a talented boyfriend/teacher to guide her, but she’s an acute learner, and has used Laak’s tutelage and her own native ability to turn herself into a devastating poker force.

Tilly found the WPT win to be most satisfying. “I felt like I was suffering from the ‘imposter syndrome,’” she said. “I had these niggling self-doubts. But now I know I can really play. These women were extremely tough pros with blood lust at the poker table. My goal has always been to win a World Poker Tour event and now I’ve done it!” Imagine winning a WSOP bracelet and still having “niggling self-doubts.” Well, they say actors are insecure …

So what lies ahead for Tilly? More poker, of course, plus a return to the small screen in the new Henry Winkler sitcom Out Of Practice, in which she’ll play the erstwhile Fonz’s girlfriend. Wonder if she’ll try to crash the crew’s poker game during taping breaks. If they’re smart, they’ll tell her, “No WSOP winners allowed.”

Jennifer Tilly is the total package: She’s gorgeous, sexy, a talented actress, an articulate thinker and writer, and a gifted poker player to boot. It’s too bad I’m already married, or I would definitely have to steal her away from Phil. I know, I know—I can hear you saying, “Yeah, right” from here. But a man can dream, can’t he?

After all, I’ve been at it a lot longer than you.

TILLY TALK

Tilly on poker: “I’m hooked on poker. I’m not going to stop playing until I’ve lost all my money.”
Tilly on training: “You can read all the books, but you have to listen to your intuition and not do everything exactly as they say. You have to do what feels right.”
Tilly on naughtiness: “I love playing poker because I get to be mean and crush people in a socially acceptable way. I can lie, steal, and be generally deceptive. Poker lets me indulge my inner bad girl.”
Tilly on image: “It’s fun to play dumb, but it’s a lot more fun to be smart!”
Tilly on Laak: “Felting Phil was the best part of my training. I loved beating him and then he’d go over to the couch and sulk, staring at the ceiling.”

FIVE THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT JENNIFER TILLY

• Real last name is Chan
• Studied theater at Stephens College in Missouri
• Was married to Sam Simon, a creator of The Simpsons
• Starred in her own sitcom, Shaping Up, but it only lasted five episodes
• Owns over 400 pairs of shoes