Rising actor Timothee Chalamet celebrated his recent Oscar nomination not with champagne and cigars but with a poker night filled with A-listers like Tobey Maguire, Kid Cudi and Kevin Hart — on second thought, cigars and champagne were definitely a part of the equation.
Chalamet, who was first revealed to be a poker player on the red carpet in January, is nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of folk musician Bob Dylan in the biopic A Complete Unknown. Like a true grinder, the 29-year-old celebrated the career achievement with a poker tournament in a Hollywood penthouse, according to a Feb. 25 GQ story.
GQ editor Frazier Tharpe, an admitted poker newbie, described the Cartier-hosted event at Chateau Marmont as “a posh evening in a spacious suite on the sixth floor of the famed LA hotel—three full poker tables complete with dealers, bartenders, a DJ playing everything from Sinatra to ‘Let the Beat Build,’ and a rooftop patio that included a cigar station—filled with friends both close and equally famous, including Tobey Maguire, Kevin Hart, Rich Paul, Nathan Fielder, Theo Von, Kid Cudi, and Kylie Jenner, with me as the outlier taking it all in.”
Though Tharpe was a newcomer to poker, the same couldn’t be said for some of the celebrity attendees. Maguire may be best known for playing Spiderman, but he is almost equally known for being a high-stakes gambler and key character in the infamous Molly’s Game. Hart, meanwhile, is a former PokerStars and partypoker ambassador.
Other celebrities less known for their poker acumen were revealed to have chops, including Chalamet’s girlfriend Jenner, who Tharpe called “one of the most formidable players of the night.” Meanwhile, the host referred to Fielder as a “beast” at the poker table.
The Rehearsal star may have picked up poker from his comedy circle. Producer Jon Mugar of Abso Lutely Productions, which put out Fielder’s breakout show Nathan for You, is the brother of poker pro Peter Mugar.
“God-Tier Degenerate Gambler Move”
Most of the talk on social media centered around Maguire’s place in the game, with one user writing that his true spider sense is being able to “detect any legal or illegal table within a 5M radius.”
“Chalamet is so happy to be getting his ass kicked by Tobey, it’s basically a sacred right of passage in Hollywood at this point,” wrote @JonathanGuito.
Sonny Bunch, a Culture editor at The Bulwark, said that Maguire showing up “just so he can take Timothee Chalamet’s money at a poker table” was a “God-tier degenerate gambler move.”
Maguire clearly still has it as a photo from the evening shows him with several stacks of black and purple chips.
Chad Holloway, Kyna England and Mike Holtz discussed Chalamet’s poker skills during a January episode of the PokerNews Podcast.
*Lead photo courtesy WikiCommons/VogueTaiwan/Nine Stars
Editor & Live Reporter U.S.