Matt Damon: Bourne Is Back To Kick Some Poker Chops

His name was included in the controversial Ponzi-scheme Poker Ring with other A-list actors like Ben Affleck, Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio. Matthew Paige Damon or mostly well known by his screen name Matt Damon is a screenwriter, American actor and a philanthropist that won a lot of awards and praises with his works and how he portrayed every role he played in the movies.

Real Name: Matthew Paige Damon
Nickname: Matt
Birth Date: October 8, 1970
Birth Place: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Spouse: Luciana Barroso
Children: 3 (Alexia Damon, Isabella Damon and Gia Zavala Damon)

Matt Damon's stardom started in the early 1990s, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote a screenplay about this young math genius named Will Hunting, who is a math genius who is forced to see a therapist and study advance math just to avoid being in jail. Good Will Hunting received 9 Academy Awards nominations for the film and won Best Original Screenplay, Academy Award for Best Actor and an Oscar award for Best Supporting Actor.

His other successful portrayal of his characters in two major movie franchises Ocean's Trilogy and the Bourne Series garnered him international recognition. Matt along with Top Hollywood celebrities like Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, and George Clooney they complete the Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen pack.

Matt also played poker with his distant cousin, Ben Affleck and being really good at it. As much as he enjoys acting and writing screenplays, he also enjoyed taking others poker chips and winning. Damon entered and played in a number of World Series of Poker events which includes the 2010 WSOP main event. While researching his role in the movie, Rounders with his fellow star, Edward Norton (The Incredible Hulk 2008) made him good at playing cards. Although after filming Rounders, he was busted out by Poker Pro Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson.

Entertainment Tonight interviews Matt Damon and co-star Edward Norton for the Miramax film, Rounders:

Entertainment Tonight: When you're tossing down these $100 chips do you go, 'Wow, I used to work a week for that.' Do you feel like you're dealing with a lot of money out there? That's a lot of money out there. Does that shock you at all?
Edward Norton: It would have shocked me more if it had been my money. We were sponsored.
Entertainment Tonight: Would you have given it to charity?
Matt Damon: Had we won we would have given it to charity, but we were sponsored by the casino.

Entertainment Tonight: The characters in the film are just bizarre. How did you guys fit in with Doyle, Amarillo Slim, and some of these old characters?
Matt: I don't know that we did fit in.
Edward: We're skinnier than most of them.
Matt: Yeah, we're definitely a little skinnier than most of them.
Entertainment Tonight: Tell us a little bit about 'Rounders' really quick.
Matt: It's a movie set in New York. I play a card player / law student who kind of leaves the world of poker to become a lawyer and my friend here (Edward Norton) gets us into debt and so we have to go back and play some cards to get the money. Pretty straightforward tale of two young guys with this world of poker as the backdrop.

Entertainment Tonight: You were instructed by Doyle and some of the other players on how to play. What did they tell you? What did they teach you?
Edward: We only read Doyle's book. We never got a chance to be coached by him. We got some time with Johnny Chan in Atlantic City, so it was great.
Matt: And Johnny Chan appears in the movie so it was great. So when he came to work in Atlantic City for the movie, he sat down and worked with us a bit. Yeah, these guys have been really nice. They're world class poker players and they've been very, very cool to us.
Entertainment Tonight: Were you a gambler before or was this pretty much it?
Matt: Yeah, it's a whole different thing. You know, a weekly game with a couple of beers and potato chips and nickels, dimes and quarters is a totally different thing than this. This is a lot more serious. The home game that I used to play people would feel guilty if someone lost too much money, you know. It's kind of a different vibe.

Entertainment Tonight: Has your life changed since your Oscar?
Matt: Not at all. My life's like this all the time. Usually I have eight to ten cameras following me around.
Entertainment Tonight: I noticed a camera crew following you to the bathroom.
Matt: Yeah that was interesting, interesting. I invited them in and we got to know each other. No, it's been very strange, very strange. Luckily I've been working so I've had my head down.
Entertainment Tonight: You don't go wandering into restaurants.
Matt: No. But hopefully things will cool off and I'll be able to do that really soon.