Freaky Fortnight – Amusing Tales in the Gambling World From Late June 2023

You can always guarantee that something amusing will be taking place in the gambling world. We’ve already highlighted many of these instances in our previous Freaky Fortnight editions. That includes the stories from a couple of weeks ago. Now, there are even more entertaining tales in the poker and gambling world from the latter half of June for you to enjoy.

Let’s find out what amusing stories have come from the industry over the past two weeks. Maybe you’ll find yourself doubled over in fits of laughter.

Phil Hellmuth Attempts Bizarre Tactics to Rattle Phil Ivey in WSOP 2023

You can always count on Phil Hellmuth to engage in strange antics while playing at the table. In 2021, he erupted into a foul-mouthed rant at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) following several losing rounds. That’s nothing new for him. He’s become known for such behavior over his years as an active player.

Yet at the 2023 WSOP, he engaged in some rather more bizarre activity. During Day 4 of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship on June 21, Hellmuth was facing one of his fellow poker legends in Phil Ivey.

The “Poker Brat” Phil Hellmuth

At one point, Ivey realized that Hellmuth was short stacked. Holding a pair of 10s and about a half-million chips, Hellmuth called the big blind of 15,000. Ivey’s hand consisted of a king and queen of hearts, so he raised the pile from 15,000 chips to 70,000.

The action returned to Hellmuth, who then proceeded to ask Ivey if he had a pair of 8s. He then turned over his hand of pocket tens while folding…That's right – Hellmuth folded pocket tens preflop after limping on a stack of about 35 big blinds to a single raise of just under 5bb.

Could that have been a move to try and mess with Ivey’s head? Possibly so. Yet Ivey remained unaffected by the strange move. Instead, when Hellmuth asked if Ivey was concerned about his two 10s, he gave a nonchalant reply, stating: “Terrified. 25 years of this shit. Does it ever change? Just the same speech for 25 years.”

It’s likely that Ivey knew what was coming from Hellmuth before he’d even said it. In the end, Hellmuth finished in 14th place of the game. His bizarre move against Ivey earned him little credibility. Ivey meanwhile managed to place 6th notwithstanding any of Hellmuth's attempts to shake his confidence.

Wayne Newton Gets Up Early for a $100K Donation from Caesars to USO

It’s not uncommon for celebrities to have some sort of association with poker. In fact, many singers, actors and sportsmen enjoy a few rounds of the game themselves. In 2022, actor Ben Affleck called at Hollywood Park Casino at 10am to engage in a poker tournament. That came about eight years after he was banned from a blackjack table due to being “too good.” And in more recent events, singer and actor Wayne Newton made his presence felt in the poker world.

The 81-year-old, who is one of the best-known performers in Las Vegas having performed there since the late '50s, made an appearance at the 54th annual WSOP event in Paris Casino. There, alongside WSOP Vice President Jack Effel, Newton presented a check worth $100,000. That check went to the United Service Organizations (USO), a non-profit organization serving active-duty service members and military families. This helped to kick off the annual $500 Salute to Warriors event. A color guard presentation from Nellis Air Force Base attended the event too.

Newton has been a long-standing supporter of military veterans, serving as the Chairman of the USO Celebrity Circle. The $100K donation was handed over from Caesars Entertainment, and Newton arrived early on Sunday, June 25 following a late-night Saturday event performing at the Flamingo. His wife, Kathleen Newton, joked about the appearance, saying:

”It takes a $100,000 in Wayne’s name to the USO just to get him up this early.”

Dan Bilzerian Proves That He’s Got More Than Just Half-Naked Women. He’s Got Wake Surfing from a $24 Million Superyacht, Too!

Dan Bilzerian is known to many people as the Armenian-American poker player and social media influencer. He has been labelled by many as The King of Instagram, and in 2020, he also became the newest member of the GGPoker team. Yet he didn’t get his nickname for no reason. He’s one of the industry’s most controversial figures, thanks to his frequent posts on Instagram where he has over 33 million followers.

His feed usually centers around pictures of half-naked women and wild parties that Bilzerian has attended. You don’t need to scroll too much through his IG feed to understand what he’s all about. He’s quite a social provocateur, you could say. Yet recently, he took a break from his love of women and partying, posting something entirely different.

It turns out that Bilzerian also enjoys a bit of wake surfing from the side of a luxury yacht. His post features both a photo and a video of the leisure time being spent, with a caption reading: “Someone asked me the other day what advice I’d give to a 20 yr old and my answer was, try everything.”

Dan Bilzerian Wake Surfing

As it happens, the superyacht isn’t really moving at any great speed, and Bilzerian is simply holding on to a rope attached to the deck, cruising along in the sea. Of course, it’s not a common occurrence for a towrope to be attached to a boat like this so that someone can spend their time drifting along behind. It’s more often the case that wake surfing takes place behind a much smaller and faster vessel. Colombian pop singer Shakira knows how to do it right, as witnessed by various people earlier on in June.

The vessel being used by Bilzerian for his slow-moving wake surfing is the Motor Yacht Loon. It’s a 180-foot-long boat, which originally cost $24 million. Owned by American businessman Craig Leipold, it recently underwent quite the makeover. Pricing for it runs at between $300K - $400K per week.

Then again, if you’re someone as well-off as Bilzerian, it’s merely pocket money. Born into wealth, he has tried his hand at surfing several times before. Yet we’re not entirely sure that cruising along at such a slow speed can be considered as surfing. More like drifting and wanting to show off the $24 million superyacht you’ve hired!