Rap stars travel the world performing for crowd the biggest part of the year.  With their larger than life personas, it should come as no surprise that some like to gamble and play poker in their spare time.  Rappers consist of a solid percentage of the growing list of celebrities playing poker.  Let's take a look at a few of those stars.

Ja-Rule has been big into poker for years.  Of course, it also helps that he is friends with poker superstar Phil Ivey.  Ja-Rule has been known to host home games with friends and other rappers over the years, and according to him, he takes his fair share of the bank home with him.  At one point Ja-Rule even had his own online poker sites before laws in the US made operating an online site impossible.  When not playing poker, Ja-Rule is an avid craps player spending a lot of time at Bellagio in Las Vegas and occasionally heading out with Ivey to other joints to rack up the cash.

Some of you in the US may not have heard this name, but overseas readers know Kool Shen well.  He was one of the founding fathers of French Rap with Supreme NTM before moving on to create his own label.   Kool Shen has been playing big buy-in poker tournaments since 2008.  Since that point, he has went on to make a name for himself in the poker world as well.  He has numerous high profile finishes, a couple of World Series of Poker cashes, and even won an event at the Euro Finals of Poker in Paris earlier this year.   He has won over $364,000 playing in poker tournaments.

Probably the most high profile rapper turned poker player in recent years is Nelly.  He first made headlines back in 2007 when he took down a Celebrity Poker Tournament at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas.  He turned around and donated the entire proceeds of that win to charity.  Since that point, Nelly has been spotted at events all over the world ranging from European Poker Tour events to the World Series of Poker.  While he hasn't broke through with any major wins since his win in 2007, he still enjoys the competition and is a popular addition to any event he plays.

While poker games may seem like an expensive hobby for some, for high profile rappers, it is just another part of the life.  Also, there is always a chance to hit a big score and with the ever growing prize money in some event, it presents a challenge that is hard to pass up.