Michael Phelps, the greatest Olympian of all time, made his World Series of Poker debut on Wednesday.
Phelps is one of just over 230 players heading into day two at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The $5000 no-limit hold’em event at the 44th Annual WSOP makes for a nice distraction after the Phelps’ comeback leak made headlines May 17th.
This isn’t the swimming star’s first time to the poker table. He’s clearly been fascinated by the game, which has been covered heavily by the media.
In other Phelps news: the Washington Post reports that a three year old colt, Cerro, is partly owned by Phelps and is a favorite to win the $100,000 prize at the Canonero II Stakes at Pimlico tomorrow. The Cerro ownership interest is actually co-owned by Michael Phelps and his longtime coach, Bob Bowman. After Cerro won $54,500 at the Gulfstream Park back in January, Bowman told USA Today:
“We are really excited to be part of Cerro’s partnership and see what he can do as he moves along this spring.”
Bowman is passionate about horses and the sport of horse racing. He, along with Michael Phelps and H. Graham Motion, makeup up the LLC Charm City Racing. See Bowman’s tweet here:
Wow! He has got it made.
He busted out of the tournament early yesterday, fyi.