The most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps continues to shine in the public spotlight since retiring last year after his historic run at the 2016 Olympic Games. This week the 31-year-old tried his ‘hand’ at poker, teaming up with profession players Joe Cada, Ryan Riess and Jeff Gross at the 48th Annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Poker stars Antonio Esfandiari and Brian Rast were also part of the GOAT’s squad, which was entered in the 2nd event of the series, the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em tournament, which took place on Friday, June 2nd, although his tag team’s line-up didn’t move on past day 1. Phelps had planned on donating any winnings to his Michael Phelps Foundation.
Phelps has had a long history, both positive and negative with gambling. The activity was cited as one of his major vices leading up to his 2014 DUI arrest, with the Baltimore-born athlete having reportedly spent 8 hours in a gambling binge at the Horseshoe Casino before getting behind the wheel.
However, before this year’s Super Bowl, Phelps used gambling for good, teaming up with 2006 World Series of Poker champion Jamie Gold to co-host a celebrity poker after-party at the 8th Annual ‘Big Game Big Give’ charity fundraiser.
First step to becoming a greeter at some casino when he’s in his 60’s.
Sounds pretty harmless. Poker is not gambling anyway. It is a game of skill. Like swimming. Although playing poker and drinking while you play poker is a bad idea because it leads to impulsive and poor decision making at the poker table. Seriously, gambling is a vice and bad idea for most people, especially in conjunction with alcohol.
Ok, how much did you really lose Michael?
Poker is gambling!