Jennifer Tilly skips Oscars for high-stakes poker game

LAS VEGAS (AP) _ Jennifer Tilly knows when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em, and Sunday night the one-time Oscar nominee was shunning Hollywood's Academy Awards for a high-stakes poker game in Las Vegas.

"This is the first time in 15 years I haven't attended the Oscar parties or gotten swept up in Oscar fever," Tilly told The Associated Press. "I haven't even seen 'Brokeback Mountain.' I don't even know who's nominated."

The actress, who was nominated for an Oscar for the 1994 film "Bullets Over Broadway," skipped the Oscars this year to compete in the 2006 National Heads Up Poker Championship on the Las Vegas Strip.

She was eliminated in Saturday's first round, but said Sunday she had no regrets. After all, she won last year's World Series of Poker ladies event.

"In this, I have the prospect of winning half a million dollars," she said. "In movies, I have the prospect of the film going straight to video."

Tilly was nominated for an Oscar for the 1994 film "Bullets Over Broadway."