Hank Azaria, New Poker Star?
Can Hank Azaria conquer the world of poker? For years, he's been a star of stage, screen, and television, with multiple nominations and awards. Many will remember his outrageous portrayal of Agador, the gay housekeeper in The Birdcage, an acting tour de force for this guy's guy who grew up in Forest Hills, Queens.
Azaria based Agador's speech pattern on Puerto Rican street queens he heard growing up and on the accent of his Greek grandmother from Salonika. If you were a friend of Hank's, there was a good chance of ending up in his amazing cast of voice characters. "I was always imitating kids from school or in my building. I idolized Jonathan Winters, George Carlin, Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Nichols and May, Mel Brooks, they were huge heroes of mine."
Azaria majored in psychology and drama at Tufts, spending most of his time in productions with his good friend actor Oliver Platt. Seeing Joe Mantegna and Ron Silver in Speed the Plow and Al Pacino in American Buffalo made a huge impression on him. Azaria was thrilled to join the ranks of those prestigious actors.
Hank's family was tight-knit, with Old World roots, nothing like his other family, The Simpsons. This vocal chameleon amalgamates his extraordinary talents in the variety of roles he has played since the hit cartoon series began. Listen closely and you can hear Sylvester Stallone in Lou the Cop, Edward G. Robinson in Chief Wiggum, and Desi Arnaz in Dr. Nick Rivera.
Which Simpsons characters would play poker? Azaria said the most likely would be Professor Frink, who knows mathematics, and Moe the bartender, who would have a pretty good poker persona.
How did Hank Azaria enter the celebrity poker world? He recalls, "I had a breakup and started playing with Rich Kind 'cause I wanted to do 'guy' things. It took a few years before we stopped playing nonsense games, with buys and exchanges; even wild card games have a certain level of frivolity. Josh Malina and Andy Newman (creators of Celebrity Poker Showdown) entered the game. For years, they pushed us to play 'real poker', but we resisted it. When I was getting ready to do Celebrity Poker, I threw a tournament at my house with Rich, Andy, Josh, Matt Perry, and David Schwimmer, just to see what it was like to play a no-limit tournament. I caught the Texas Hold'em bug and fell in love with the game.
"I was the first one to go to the Loser's Lounge both times I've been on. I kept losing to cute blondes. I underestimated women tremendously."
Phil Gordon, host of the show, taught him a lot, and so did Annie Duke. Annie cured him of his love for playing jack-10 suited when she said simply, "You just love jack high." Hank agrees. "They can be cards that bust a lotta people up. I like to play it in position with a lot of callers, but that's a bad time to play it. You can play 5-6 suited with a lotta callers 'cause you've got pot odds. I lost a lot of money playing jack-10. I also had a bad habit of slow-playing my aces. You can win a little or lose a lot with them."
Azaria thinks poker on television is fantastic show business. "It's Damon Runyan. It's great getting to know these guys and watching everyone's different style. The only thing about TV poker is you don't really get the whole story leading up to a hand. Phil Hellmuth told me one time he made a play that made his lay-down seem psychic, but no one saw the two hours before when the guy never played a hand."
Other pros he admires are Phil Ivey, Sammy Farha, and Daniel Negreanu. "I've never seen Negreanu be wrong about a hand. He's been cornered and had bad luck, but the cards he lays down are almost as impressive as the cards he plays."
Competition is no problem for Hank Azaria. In his field, he has proven that he can rise above it, own luck. Get involved in a theater company. I'm a believer that, like in poker, you'll soon find out if you can measure up to the competition.
Competition is no problem for Hank Azaria. In his field, he has proven that he can rise above it, and there is no doubt that, given enough time and practice, he'll soon be a star of the poker table.