When Michael Phelps swaps the basins for the green carpet

Retired from swimming from the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, Michael Phelps has been doing his new passions for some time, including poker! If the swimmer who broke all the Olympic records was known for his taste for the card game, it was to everyone's surprise that the Kid of Baltimore appeared at the WSOP during the team tournament at $ 10,000.

A long love story between the swimmer and the poker

We no longer present the most successful sportsman in the history of the Olympic Games! With 28 medals during the five participations in the Olympiads of his career, including 23 in gold, Michael Phelps holds all the swimming records. If, the one that is also called, the Kid of Baltimore, has won everything in his predilection sport, the swimmer has other passions that we know less. A big golf lover, the biggest Olympic champion is also a poker passionate!

A great friend of a few sizes of the international circuit like Jeff Gross (his former roommate) or Antonio Esfandiari, it has been years that his qualities of concentration and strategy allow him to win poker games. Besides, even if during his sports career, this passion earned him certain criticisms, it was also by playing poker in Las Vegas that Michael Phelps met his former partner, who was a croupier at the Palms Casino Resort!

A team return to the WSOP

It was notably after the Beijing Olympics in 2008, that the Kid of Baltimore really focused on the card game. After an intense work of 6 weeks in Las Vegas, Michael Phelps finished in the ninth place of a tournament at $ 1,500 at Caesars Palace, to pocket around $ 100,000 in winnings!

If the former swimmer had no longer participated in the World Series of Poker since 2013, the biggest sportsman of all time maof his return last week during a team tournament where the entrance price was set at 10,000 $. Accompanied by his friends, Jeff Gross, Brian Rast and Antonio Esfandiari, Michael Phelps maof a surprise appearance during this poker tournament. Indeed, while his participation was still uncertain, the Kid of Baltimore was able to release a box in his schedule to demonstrate all his qualities during the WSOP of Las Vegas!

When the stars invite themselves around the game tables

Besides, between the muses of the big brands of poker and the enthusiasts of the card game, Michael Phelps is not the only celebrity that recently sowed around the tables. FC Barcelona footballer Neymar, notably participated in a private tournament during these WSOP in Las Vegas, even if he was quickly eliminated by his Brazilian friends. The tennis player, Rafael Nadal also spent time around tables during major tournaments organized by PokerStars in Europe. Thus, it seems that the card game is a possible retraining for a certain number of "people"!