Crack out the popcorn and settle in for this one because this much-anticipated face-off did not disappoint.
Unexpectedly, often chill and relaxed podcast host Doug Polk, though obviously enjoying some moments of the pod, found himself on the back foot for others. A pumped-up and caffeinated Bilzerian fired back somewhat coherently with accusations of misrepresentation by Polk.
To be fair, Blitz appeared to have a point, as it emerged Polk had clipped quotes of him to essentially state the opposite of what Bilzerian had said about his own sources of funds in poker. This, Blitz maintained, went beyond Polk’s pretty arguably weak defense of it having been “a joke”.
No stranger to controversy, many might view Bilzerian’s social media offenses as far more egregious (his own favourite word in this podcast!). He has a history of outspoken misogyny, having referred to Vanessa Kade as a “ hoe ” in response to her own innocuous Tweet, and being outspokenly sexist in multiple other high-profile interactions online on the daily. Whether this behaviour could possibly be defended as being merely an “ online persona ” or not was another facet to a fascinating debate between these two larger-than-life characters.
Hate to love or love to hate him, Blitz did argue his corner pretty well at times in debate with Polk, and at other times merely bewildered him with his bizarre attitudes, for one reason or the other leaving the usually cheery host a little lost for words at times.
On the money front, who will ever know for sure, but Bilzerian’s claim that he had action in some top players in extremely soft private games over the years, as well as his acknowledgement that his wealthy background, whilst not propping up his bankroll directly did help to get him in some amazing High Stakes games by dint of reputation, combine to go some way to explaining his explosive claim that he is up over $70 million from poker.
This nosebleed-stakes live cash account is more believable than his claim to have been one of the best players online in his day (2005 upwards), but Bilzerian did invite Polk to check his online results, so perhaps we’ll see a follow-up on this one.
Other highlights include Bilzerian’s claim that he once wagered $3.5 million by flipping a quarter.
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Original image from Doug Polk’s podcast
