Australian Shane Warne may not be a big name in American poker circles.

But in other poker playing countries like the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia Shane Warne is legend.

Not for his poker but for his cricket. This controversial cricketer is also very fond of poker and seems to be making it his prime profession after retiring from cricket.

On June 19, 2008, Shane Warne will participate in a Celebrity Bounty Tournament at Crown Poker, which is one of the largest poker rooms in Australia. A Celebrity Bounty Tournament works as follows. The event is played over a number of tables. At each table is a poker celebrity. The players who knock out celebrities win special prizes. Crown Poker’s Celebrity Bounty tournament is scheduled to start at 7.00 pm after an hour’s socializing over canapés and drinks. The entry to the tournament will cost $550 and is open only to members of Crown Club. The prize for knocking out a celebrity is $300. But it is the grand prizes that are worth playing for. There are three grand prizes of guaranteed $17,000 packages to the World Series of Poker. Each package includes the $10,000 buy in, $2,500 for travel, $2,000 for accommodation and $2,000 spending money. And if players fail to win anything, at least they have spent an evening with their stars.

That the Crown poker web site lists Shane Warne as the star attraction of the Celebrity bounty tournament comes as no surprise because Warne’s poker career has been as controversial as his cricketing one. After Warne’s retirement from international cricket he has signed up with the poker site “888” to play professionally for them. 888.com belongs to 888 Holdings PLC and is registered in Gibraltar. The Aussie Millions at Melbourne's Crown Casino was the first tournament Shane Warne played for 888 in January 2008. In this tournament he was forced to sit out for five minutes as a penalty for sending a text message from the table. Poker tournament rules require players to step away from the table in order to use their mobile phones. The penalty of sitting out forces a player to miss out on all the action at the table including the chance to get a good hand. Warne’s fans will recall his penchant for sending text messages to women, something that ultimately led to the breakdown of his marriage.

Shane Warne’s cricket controversies are legion. He has taken money from a bookmaker and in exchange supplied information on the team composition and pitch conditions to the bookmaker. He was lucky to get away with only a fine. He was also charged with bringing the game of cricket to disrepute with his comments on a rival player. His darkest hour was testing positive for dope and being sent home before the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

Also participating in the Celebrity Bounty Tournament are luminaries like Nathan Buckley, Cameron Williams, Gyton Grantley, Gary Ablett Jnr, Lauren Phillips, Tim Campbell, Kelly Landry and Kevin Harrington.