If one looks at the colorful resume of Abi Titmuss one will find literally everything except poker.

Yet, under the avatar of actress -turned poker pro, Abi Titmuss has done more for Ladbrokes Poker than all its real poker pros put together.

Even though she has made quick exits she has generated more mileage out of her brief stay than the final table players. The latest case was the Ante Up For Africa charity poker tournament played at Las Vegas last week. This tournament organized by actor Don Cheadle and poker star Annie Duke attracts the who’s who of the poker industry and this year Ladbrokes was represented by Abi. Abi lost half her chips in the first deal of the day to Hollywood star Ben Affleck, and was out in the first hour, but the video of her talk about this encounter is circulating in all the Internet communities from You Tube to MySpace. In this deal Abi and Affleck ended up one on one. Abi had a straight and bet half her chips, but was outdone by Affleck’s full house. Abi cannot stop repeating how Affleck sheepishly apologized to her as he scooped up her chips.

She never recovered from this blow and was soon out. Other famous pros on Abi’s table included Andy Bloch and Dan Shak, who won the 2007 Ante Up for Africa event. In her talk about the event Abi said, “I couldn’t believe my luck when Ben Affleck sat down next to me. I love poker and was really prepared to give these Hollywood A-listers a run for their money, but before I knew it Ben had taken half my flippin’ chips!” If not her poker play then at least her bravado is admirable. She and six-time World Snooker Champion Steve Davis are the cheerleading squad for the Ladbrokes players the WSOP Main Event.

Abi claims to have got involved with poker about seven years back. She was playing a home game with friends and as beginner’s luck would have it she won the first game and got hooked. Once the beginner’s luck wore off Abi realized that playing poker was not a piece of cake. However she continued playing online and now after Ladbrokes signed her on she has started playing live.

One of her early live tournaments was the Ladbrokes European Ladies Championship. She was very nervous and it showed but she was thankful for the encouragement that the other ladies gave her. Abi prefers to play online for two reasons. One is that she can pretend to be a man and thus prevent being picked on as a soft target. The other is that nobody recognizes her as Abi, which given her tumultuous background can be disconcerting.

She has been sexually harassed while working as a nurse. Her live-in boyfriend was accused of raping a colleague. She has done a stint as a presenter of a pornographic TV channel, written an erotic novel, posed in the buff and done lots more to become the dream girl of half the human population.