Why is it that Larry Flynt, a man known for skin magazines, political activism, and championing free speech, lists poker as his favorite pastime? "Being in a wheelchair," he explains, "I don't do a lot of waterskiing."

Though Flynt is now a publishing magnate worth a reported $400 million who dabbles in high-stakes poker games and owns a successful casino in Los Angeles, he wasn't born into affluence.

Born Nov. 1, 1942, in rural Kentucky, Flynt was raised dirt poor and enjoyed playing cards as a childhood hobby. At the age of 15 he dropped out of school, lying about his age in order to join the U.S. Army. He quit a year later to sign up for the Navy where, out of boredom, he honed his poker skills by competing against his peers.

The Navy didn't hold Flynt's interest, and by 1964 he left the service to run a strip club in Ohio. One club had multiplied to several before Flynt got an idea in 1974 to start up a porn magazine that would suit the tastes of the working man. Hustler, the flagship magazine of Larry Flynt Publications, was born.

However, not all Americans were ready to accept Flynt's racy pictorial spreads. Over the years several legal actions have been brought against Flynt - all of which he has defended on the basis of First Amendment rights. Though he has won every appeal in rulings against him, Flynt did spend six months in federal prison for desecrating an American flag when he wore it as a diaper to court in 1984. His time spent in and out of judicial system, as well as his relationship with his fourth wife, Althea Leasure, was documented in the Hollywood film The People vs. Larry Flynt starring Woody Harrelson as the so-called "People's Pornographer" and Courtney Love as Althea, who died in 1987.

While Flynt and his lawyer were leaving a Georgia courtroom in March, 1978, a white supremacist enraged by an interracial sex scene in Hustler shot the pair. Flynt was paralyzed from the waist down and to this day is confined to a wheelchair - albeit a gold-plated one.

Throughout those years, Flynt became increasingly interested in poker and took to gambling at the Gold Nugget and the Mirage casinos. He read up on poker strategy but, as in business, decided his game went best when he followed his instincts.

Flynt is known as a solid poker player, but one who isn't afraid of losing a few hundred thousand dollars over the course of an evening. Old-time poker pro Amarillo Slim claims to have won $2 million of Flynt's money in a game, an assertion Flynt denies. Then there's the matter of a 1999 lawsuit brought forward by the Las Vegas Hilton, which accused the pornographer of failing to repay a $3.2 million credit he took out at the casino.

Perhaps for that reason, big name poker pros like Phil Hellmuth, Barry Greenstein and Phil Ivey compete in high stakes games at Flynt's Bel-Air home, on his private Gulfstream IV jet and at his L.A. Hustler Casino, which opened in 2001. "I've been supporting these guys and their families for five years," Flynt told the L.A. Times. "I like to play with the best. Otherwise what fun is it?"

Though he doesn't like tournament play, he regularly participates in the World Series of Poker - that is, of course, excluding the years Jack Binion banned him from competing in the event. The banishment was the result of a reported bet between Doyle Brunson and Flynt that the Hustler tycoon couldn't win the tournament. When it came down to a handful of tables, Flynt allegedly began offering to buy out players, who were throwing their chips to him. Needless to say, it didn't work and Flynt was exiled from the WSOP for a period of time.

The only year he has finished in the money was at the 2000 WSOP where he placed eighth in the Seven-Card Stud event and pocketed $10,000. On weekends Flynt can be found at high-stakes Stud games - his favorite form of poker - in his casino's card room. He also enjoys solo high-stakes blackjack games.

Now on his fifth wife, his nurse whom he married in 1998, Flynt is still busy at the helm of his businesses, which also include a retail store and video pornography. He remains politically active, and his personal Web site is a testament to his anti-war, Libertarian beliefs. These political views are also outlined in his Washington expose, Sex, Lies & Politics: The Naked Truth. Flynt has five children and is diagnosed with bi-polar disorder.