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The reasons why Dan Bilzerian does some of the things he does makes about as much sense as Jaden Smith’s tweets. Instagram’s “biggest playboy” is the walking, talking epitome of living life in the fast lane, and his antics are as ridiculous as they come. Throwing huge parties on yachts with plenty of debauchery and topless women is something he’s made himself a name for above most other things – the kind you would expect to see in The Wolf of Wall Street.
Now, his penchant for excess has culminated into him announcing earlier this month that he’ll be running for President of the United States ahead of next year’s election. While we don’t exactly know yet what his political views are, or why exactly he decided to run for President (though we assume he’s doing it just because he can), it’s only fitting that we take a look back to why he’s well-known enough to even consider it. Mainly, the fact that his behaviour is just unbelievable, whether he documents it on Instagram or not. With that, we’ll be counting down the top 10 most unbelievable things Dan Bilzerian has ever done.
Despite him initially making a reputation for himself as a poker player (even if he’s not a particularly good one), you could argue that such a reputation is completely and utterly overshadowed by his behaviour outside of games. It’s rather confusing as to how he makes so much money – his net worth is reportedly about $150 million – but it seems like he sure knows how to spend it. Sadly, his behaviour has ventured into very dangerous territory, thanks to the controversy surrounding an organized photo shoot that had him throw a naked adult film star from a roof into a pool – causing the actress Janice Griffith to break her foot and subsequently sue Bilzerian. Considering all of that, here’s our list of the top 10 most ridiculous things ever done by this younger version of Hugh Hefner – not including his presidential candidacy.
10. Thrown an "adult actress" into a pool
As mentioned above, Bilzerian’s most controversial incident in his time as a celebrity is when he threw the then 18-year-old adult film star Janice Griffith – completely naked and weighing only 90 lbs – off the roof of his mansion, causing Griffith to break her foot as she hit the side of the pool before actually making it in. The stunt was orchestrated by both Bilzerian and Hustler Magazine, and Griffith sued both over her injuries. That said, Griffith’s comment about the incident was rather modest, all things considered: all she wrote was, “I broke my foot today.”
9. Called himself the Bill Gates of Poker
To call yourself the Bill Gates of anything would probably be overrating your reputation, skills and innovation massively, but Dan Bilzerian has gone so far as to do just that for himself. In a 2014 video interview with ALL IN Magazine, Bilzerian called himself the “Bill Gates of Poker” – at least if you were comparing poker to a business. Maybe it’s not such a huge exaggeration after all, considering his net worth, as well as the fact that he's made $50 million simply through playing poker – including a win of about $10.8 million in one night. He may not have revolutionized the game, but he’s done astonishingly well with it financially.
8. Got arrested in high school for having machine gun in his car
Bilzerian is known for his love of guns, of which he owns 97, not to mention he has admitted to having a loaded gun in every room of his Hollywood Hills mansion. In fact, his affinity for guns goes way back – to the point where it was a bit much, considering his age during this particular incident. During his senior year, Bilzerian was arrested for possession of a machine gun – which was found in his car on school property. Following this, Bilzerian was expelled from his school. He might love his firearms, especially now, but come on Dan – that’s just a little too early for that kind of thing.
7. Got kicked out of the Navy before graduating
For four years, Bilzerian was training to become a Navy SEAL, going through about 510 days’ worth of training for it. However, following a verbal insult towards one of the administrative officers, Bilzerian was kicked out – more specifically, he was “honourably discharged.” He claims that he was “admin dropped for no good reason,” but reports claim that Bilzerian called one of the officers a “p***y” just two days before he was supposed to graduate. It didn’t end that badly for him in the grand scheme of things – he would end up going to school at the University of Florida in Business and Criminology. Oh, and there's the lavish lifestyle he’d end up living after, of course.
6. Lost $5.6 million in two months through gambling
Perhaps losing a few million dollars isn’t the worst thing that could happen to him – he has a huge trust fund thanks to his also-very-rich corporate takeover specialist father Paul – but how he lost it is nonetheless pretty bad, even for gambling standards. After first tweeting that he’d lost $3.1 million in a game of poker and dice, he would then lose $2.5 million worth of chips the following month. Bilzerian’s dad even told him to stop gambling altogether after losing big the second time – which really isn’t an unfair piece of advice. Dan’s response? “No one likes a quitter.”
5. Got arrested at LAX for possessing bomb-making equipment
Although this arrest coincided somewhat with the controversy surrounding him supposedly kicking Vanessa Castano in the face at a nightclub in Miami, this one seemed to stand all alone when it made headlines late in 2014. Bilzerian was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for allegedly possessing equipment to manufacture bombs. He ended up having his charges dropped, but got released from custody after being held without bail the day after his arrest. In true Bilzerian fashion, he posted a picture on Instagram immediately afterward of him on an airplane, sandwiched between two women, with the caption “Jail… Let’s not do that again.”
4. Turned his cat into a virtual celebrity
He may look like one tough kitty, but his name certainly doesn’t imply it. Dan Bilzerian’s cat Smushball has a celebrity reputation all his own, and has his own Instagram account to show for it – with more than 808,000 followers to boot. Based on his posts, he is essentially the feline version of his owner – being pictured alongside Bilzerian’s guns, on top of Bilzerian with a naked woman behind them both, in front of poker chips and on planes with him. It’s unknown as of yet whether or not Bilzerian’s pet goat Zeus will also eventually become an Internet celebrity in his own right.
3. Had three heart attacks - including two in his 20s
Dan Bilzerian’s mantra for life clearly seems to be “live fast, die young” – and he almost did. Three times. Before his 32nd birthday. During a five-day snowboarding vacation involving little sleep, wild sex, consumption of cocaine and 200 mg of Viagra, gambling and crazy parties, he suffered his first heart attack at age 25 on day four of his binge. He would then suffer the second attack while in the hospital recuperating – only 12 hours later. Fortunately for him, he’d recover fully after two weeks spent in the hospital, but having even one heart attack while you’re technically in the prime of your life is remarkable in a terrible kind of way. He would then suffer a third one while flying between Hawaii and Los Angeles twice within three days for a poker tournament, after which doctors diagnosed him with a pulmonary embolism.
2. Claims to have once had sex with 16 women in 12 days
With this kind of workout, Dan Bilzerian might not have necessarily needed to go to a gym another day in his life. During an interview with renowned shock jock Howard Stern, Bilzerian talked about his trip to Cannes, where he apparently did the nasty with 16 different women within a 12-day span – all of whom he claimed, in true younger-Hugh Hefner fashion, were “Playboy playmate” quality women. In other words, he slept with at least one different woman during each of the 12 days he spent in Cannes on average. He may be known for his womanizing ways, but this is just on another level entirely.
1. Employs three different chefs at his house
Speaking of his interview with Howard Stern, Bilzerian also admitted that he needs to have three different chefs working at his mansion to compensate for his huge appetite. In fact, the single chef he had employed previously got so burnt out cooking for him so often that he needed to hire two more for the sake of rotating them. Each of the three chefs work shifts of 12 hours (yikes!) at his homes in Hollywood and in Vegas. Furthermore, he has 20 people working for him in total – including three assistants. If you’re rich and think you’re living the high life like this guy, chances are you probably aren’t.
Sources: wsj.com, tmz.com, hollywoodlife.com, dailydot.com, mandatory.com
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