Late March 2023 Freaky Fortnight Edition – Funny gambling stories to keep you entertained

Although the world of online poker sites, live card rooms, casinos, sports betting and other gambling is full of routine, everyday events, there are times when we come across a piece of news that makes us scratch our heads and mutter “ WTF?” For your entertainment, we’ve featured some of the below the weirdest and weirdest gambling news from the last fortnight of March 2023 in this part of Great two weeks.

Neymar at it again – Loses £900,000!

We highlighted footballer Neymar’s love of gambling in our February edition of Freaky Fortnight. The forward started gambling a bit after Paris Saint-Germain’s loss to Bayern Munich this month. It seemed likely that he would not stop after this game. Of course, he went back to it again, but this time he chose online casino games instead.

The footballer decided on one of the last days of March that the best way to spend his time was with a few rounds of live roulette. He decided to stream his gaming activity on Twitch at the same time, attracting people from all over the world to watch him have fun.

Soccer player Neymar is no stranger to the poker tables

Unfortunately, it seems the gaming gods didn’t love him too much. During your session, he lost a whopping £900,000 ($1.12 million). As a result, the footballer broke down in tears – or so he pretended to the Twitch community.

Neymar jokingly screamed at his huge loss before smiling as the Titanic theme started playing in the background. “Oh shit, I’m gonna put this on YouTube,” he cried. Another gambler noted that the footballer “went from a million to zero” in just one minute.

Of course, the loss is unlikely to have a major impact on Neymar’s finances. Reports suggest he makes £3.4m per month with the PSG team. His fans who were watching also made light of the situation with one commenting that he would send Neymar his salary for the month to cover the losses!

April Fools’ Day Plays for Robbie Jade Liu and Poker News

April 1st is known around the world as April Fool’s Day – the day when people play pranks. This also applies to the world of poker, which is exactly what Robbi Jade Lew and PokerNews have joined forces for.

Robbie Jade Lu was involved in a cheating scandal

Many in the poker community were left with a smile on their faces when the news site printed a story about Lou. Said the poker player would post a book titled “If I Did It”. Is this book a reported topic? Liu’s version of how she would cheat while playing live poker at the Hustler Casino in California.

Nothing particularly funny about that per se, unless you know the basis behind the joke. Lew was charged with fraud after collecting $269,000 after a hand against Garrett Adelstein in September 2022 in which she called her stack with J4 unraised and won in a showdown. Liu denied the allegations and an investigation has been launchedwhich ended in December of that year, finding no evidence of fraud.

In an April Fool’s Day story published by Poker News, Liu was quoted as saying:

So many people think I have cheated, and while I won’t say they are right, I would never say such a thing, I thought it would be fun to write a book about how I would have cheated if I had actually done it . Which I didn’t.

Poker News made the announcement about the book on Twitter, prompting a flurry of comments from the site’s followers. Many admitted they initially believed the article before realizing it was an April Fool’s joke. This was made even more comical by the insinuation that Doyle Brunson supposedly wrote the foreword to the book. If the title of the fictional book sounds familiar, then you may remember that OJ Simpson wrote such a title after he was acquitted of murder.

Nevada Gamblers Named ‘Biggest Pranksters’

Speaking of April Fools’ Day, it’s now possible to find out who the biggest pranksters in the United States are. A survey conducted by Gambling.com found that Nevadans like to fool themselves more than anywhere else in the country.

How did they come to this conclusion? A study was published that measured the Google search volume of specific terms for comedy, pranks and pranks. This information was then combined with the number of comedy clubs or comedy-related social gatherings in each state. The top 20 largest wildcard countries list was then announced with Nevada claiming the top spot.

New York is second and California is third. Other states also on the list include Illinois (4th), Indiana (10th), Oregon (12th), Pennsylvania (18th) and tied for 19th were North Carolina and Kentucky.

It’s not surprising to see Nevada take the top spot, given that it’s home to numerous comedy clubs and acts. After all, Las Vegas is like the entertainment capital of the world for such acts.

Perhaps more fun than these wildcard statuses are the ones that almost didn’t score any points. Montana was highlighted as the least comedic state. With a very basic score of 14.5 out of 100 for comedy value, Big Sky Country doesn’t seem to have a funny side. North Dakota and Wyoming were also named as unfunny places in the US

So if you’re thinking of moving, you know exactly where to go for a good laugh – Nevada, New York or California!

Sean Deeb bets on weight loss

Shaun Deeb has already accomplished a lot in his poker career, but his biggest challenge may lie ahead. The five-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner is now betting on himself.

Deeb has given himself 14 months to lose a significant amount of body fat and get in shape ready for the 2024 WSOP. Not only is he betting himself mentally, but on March 28th he actually bet $100,000 on his ability to reach 17% body fat until now.

Deeb bets against Bill Perkins, a wealthy businessman and fellow poker player, who gives him 10:1 odds. If Deeb hits the 17% body fat goal, he will receive a whopping $1 million reward for his efforts.

The bankroll isn’t the only fat thing about Sean Deeb

It’s not unlike Perkins to make such bets, especially when it comes to encouraging his friends to get healthier. He recently won a similar bet against Doug Polk, who entered a $200,000 gamble. Polk said he wanted to lose 50 percent of his body fat within a year. Unfortunately, Polk’s latest scan showed him just under 2% short of achieving that, leaving Perkins with the payout.

Polk previously had Sugar House Casino in Pennsylvania fined $32.5,000 by the state Gaming Control Board. The regulator has not approved 10-card stud poker for real money at casinos in the state, which Polk chose to play for a high-stakes “flip” against an opponent. Thus, the game Polk was involved in was considered a violation of Pennsylvania gaming laws.

However, Doug has become healthier through gambling with Perkins, which Deeb will likely experience as well. Now it’s up to him to defeat Perkins and make a big profit from the wealthy hedge fund manager. Sean needs to reach 17% body fat by May 30 next year.

This will not be an easy task to accomplish either. Deeb has struggled with his weight throughout his poker career and currently sits at around 306 pounds. Many gambling fans objected (UCWWDT?) to his decision to do so, saying it was unlikely that he would win the bet.

Yet Deeb is a professional gambler who has endured many trials before and is given enviable odds of 10:1 on the bet. Sean has already started hitting the gym and posted a video of Perkins on his progress.

Deeb makes wacky news again

A few days before making his weight loss pledge, Deeb found himself at the center of an unrelated, albeit humorous, question. While competing in the World Series of Poker Circuit event at Turning Stone Casino, he inadvertently lost $10,500 in cash before finally being able to recover it.

Sean Deeb almost lost $10,500 at Turning Stone Casino

A friend of Deeb’s had $10,500 to give him, which he did, wordlessly handing Sean a box of protein bars with the money inside while Deeb played at a poker table. Sean, not interested in protein bars and knowing nothing about the “extra” contents of the box, placed it on the floor and left it there as he walked away from the table.

Over dinner a few hours later, Deeb and his friend had an enlightening Three’s Company style conversation during which it finally dawned on both of them what had happened. They returned to the tournament hall to look for the box, but it was gone.

After frantic discussions with other players and alerting staff at the upstate New York resort, the box of money inside was found in a dumpster just minutes before it was tossed into the dumpster and possibly become unrecoverable. Deeb tipped the eagle-eyed sweeper who spotted him $500 and happily claimed his $10,500.

Oh, by the way, Shaun Deeb won the Turning Stone WSOP Circuit Series Main Event for a prize of $275,916 and his first Circuit ring.