What does one do after winning 6 Olympic medals in London? If one happens to be Michael Phelps, he gallivants around the globe with his buddies playing high stakes poker, culminating in a $100,000 win in a single Vegas game.
Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals (18 of those gold), reportedly plunged into poker much like he does the pool — he’s all in.
The 27-year-old swimmer, who has been touring the world with his buddies since his retirement, started out in Maldives, and ended up in Las Vegas last weekend, walking away with $100,000 at a cash poker game at Caesar’s Palace.
“I’ve met some of my best friends at a poker table. Some of the kids I’m always with, who I talk to every day,” Phelps recently told another card player.
Starting out dabbling at the $1 to $2 level, Phelps reportedly now buys in to a weekly $25,000 game.
Phelps, who has a $45 million bankroll to play with, apparently approaches poker with the same determination he did swimming, and has been tutored by a number of poker mentors, including Doyle Brunson.
“I love to play, it’s fun, it’s exciting. It was more something so that I could have time to myself. I could relax, I could be myself, and I could have fun. It’s a place where I can be me.”
photo: ATP/WENN