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Dan Bilzerian Eyes Bet To Row Across Atlantic To Recover 'A Few Million' In Poker Losses This Year

Gambler Says It Wouldn't Be The Most Dangerous Thing He's Done

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High-stakes poker player and Instagram celebrity Dan Bilzerian has made a $5 million bet to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

The bet is with hedge fund manager Bill Perkins, the same man who bet against Bilzerian earlier this year in a Las Vegas-to-Los Angeles bike ride. Bilzerian completed the trek for a nearly $1 million payday.

Bilzerian told Card Player that he has “lost a few million” playing poker this year, despite only playing once or twice a month. He would be able to recover that amount thanks to the rowing bet, but there’s no date yet for when he’d begin.

A starting and ending point haven’t been established yet either, but Bilzerian said the trip would be 3,000 miles. He also said it would take him three months.

In April, Perkins told Card Player that rowing from England to New York City was one of the prop bets they were considering as a follow-up to the cycling wager.

Bilzerian doesn’t have specific training plans yet. “Probably a lot of rowing,” Bilzerian said with a laugh when asked about his plans to prepare.

In terms of the number of people who have done it, solo rowing across an ocean is about the same as climbing to the summit of Mount Everest. According to Bilzerian, fewer people have been into space than have rowed across the Atlantic.

Earlier this year, a 70-year-old Norwegian doctor attempted to row across the same ocean, only to be saved 84 days later from a storm. Bilzerian is 35.

He said the solo row wouldn’t be the most dangerous thing he’s ever done.

For the cycling bet, Bilzerian did some training with Lance Armstrong and spent a six-figure sum preparing and making it through the Mojave Desert.

As for poker, despite the poor year at the tables, Bilzerian hasn’t dropped down in stakes. “I’m only playing $100,000 and up buy-in games,” he said.