Should we believe Dan Bilzerian has won $50 million this year?

In the Community Weekly Round-Up, Barry Carter suggests Dan Bilzerian may have been exaggerating a bit when he went on the Howard Stern show.

Love him or hate him, Dan Bilzerian is possibly the most famous poker player in the world right now, and this week he told Howard Stern he has won $50 million playing poker this year. 

I, for one, don't believe him. 

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of private high stakes games out there where such a large amount could potentially be won. I read about those very games recently in the excellent book Molly's Game. 

I just don't see how Bilzerian would figure in those games. 

In Molly's Game, she makes it quite clear that many of the high stakes celebrity games had a strict 'no pro' policy. Which is why you never hear about Phil Ivey fleecing Tobey Maguire and the like. Discretion is equally important in these games; they are a very private affair.

Neither of which fit into Bilzerian's MO. He professes to being a successful pro, bragging about his winnings on Twitter, and of course, the Howard Stern show. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of attention he has garnered this year. 

If he really is winning in these games, and bragging about it like he is a pro, I don't see how he would be invited to them. 

On the flipside, you have the wealthy businessmen who love to play against the pros. People like Guy Laliberté and Andy Beal who get a kick from taking on the best. I don't see why these guys would invite a brash player like Bilzerian to their private game, when genuine stars like Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu would jump at the chance to play. If you had a chance to play golf against anyone, you would pick Tiger Woods, not Justin Bieber. 

I don't have a problem with the idea that Bilzerian might be a winner in these games, maybe even a big winner. Just given that he has a multi-million dollar trust fund to fall back on, and is surrounded by yes men (and girls) all the time, it is no wonder he might believe his own hype. I'm not hating (I'm jealous), most guys would do exactly what he is doing in his position. 

Either way, whatever you think of him as a person, maybe his antics are good for the game. I'm sure he has attracted a lot of gullible young men to poker, who think winning $50 million is plausible, and that professional poker players spend most of their time cavorting with porn stars. Obviously he isn't helping make the game more accessible to women, but nobody can deny he has brought a lot of mainstream media attention to poker (and porn stars). 

Do you think it is possible that Dan Bilzerian has won $50 million this year? Do you think his antics are good for the game? Let me know in the comments box. 

Thread of the week

Big debate this week on the forums, started by metamorphis, where he asks if HUDs have ruined poker or made it better? 

Lots of coaches and forum heroes have their say on this discussion, with a lot of people claiming they wish HUDs did not exist, but admitted to using them.

My personal opinion is that there are as many players who misuse their HUD so that it actually makes them worse than without it. Also from a recreational player's perspective, the multi-tabling pros who rely on HUDs will still be playing worse than if the same pro was one-tabling against them without a HUD. 

So for me it evens out, like everything in poker, it is about adapting and evolving. 

LOL of the week

We ran a story about Andrew Robl bailing out a friend for $1.5 million, and we were all reminded of this classic hand:

Running hot

The last full week of July looked like this:

• Collin Moshman has a fantastic guide to hero calls.

• This one really got you talking - do you judge players based on their nationality? 

• Win $50 in our Summer Challenge. 

• Check out some of the most interesting facts and figures from the WSOP.

• Win coaching with ElkY by showing us why you are Like a Boss!

Stay tuned next week as we have the return of one of our most popular promotions. 

Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2. He has been working in the poker industry for nine years and in 2013 won the APAT Award for Best Poker Media Provider. You can learn more about his work here.  Follow Barry Carter on Twitter l Follow Barry Carter on Google+