If you are a poker fan, up-to-date with all the most spectacular winnings and celebrity players, you have most likely heard about Dan Bilzerian (a.k.a. "Blitz"), sometimes referred to as the king of Instagram. He is a venture capitalist by trade and a high-stakes poker player whose career gained a lot of Instagram fame and even reached the Hollywood Hills.
He is famous not only for his victorious poker games but also for his extravagant lifestyle, love for risk, and easygoing attitude. If you haven't heard about him, read on to learn more about your fellow poker player who turned out to be super successful!
Early Life
Dan Bilzerian was born on the 7th of December 1980 in Tampa, Florida. His father, Paul Bilzerian, is a well-known American businessman and corporate takeover specialist of Armenian descent. He is also a Vietnam War veteran, and together with his wife, Terri Steffen, they brought up Dan and his younger brother Adam to be confident and strong like soldiers. Interestingly, Adam is also pursuing a career as a poker player.
Dan attended Gaither High School in Tampa but unfortunately, he was thrown out when his dad was sentenced to prison. After moving to Utah, he enrolled in a new school but had legal problems again when he took a machine gun his father used in the Vietnam War with him one day. He was sentenced to a few months in jail for this terrible mistake.
He started studying Business and Criminology at the University of Florida but never finished it as he focused on his professional gambling career.
Interestingly, he also tried to join the military (United States Navy SEALs, to be exact) but couldn’t continue the training when his leg got seriously fractured.
Poker Career and Legal Issues
The tournament that can be considered the beginning of Dan Bilzerian's gambling career is the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2008, where he took 180th place. One of the perks in his career was undoubtedly when the readers of Bluff magazine voted him one of the funniest poker players on Twitter in 2010.
Unfortunately, he also continued to have legal issues - in November 2011, he was sued by the estate of Bradley Ruderman because his poker games winnings were considered to have been paid with money obtained from an illegal Ponzi scheme.
That was not the end of his adventures with the law in 2011 - he also defended Alex Rodriguez, accused of illegal gambling - he claimed he was present at the alleged event, and this player was not participating.
Interestingly, in November 2013, Dan Bilzerian claimed that he had won $10.8 million in just one poker-playing night. Next year, he summed up that he had won $50 million throughout the previous year, adding that he had stopped playing against professionals.
Business
Apart from being a successful poker player, Bilzerian is also a businessman. He owns a company selling CBD oils, electronic cigarettes, water bottles, vodka, and more - it is called Ignite International Brands Ltd. It is a public business, with its headquarters located in Toronto, Canada, that started trading at the beginning of 2019 under the BILZF ticker. It is said the company lost more than $50 million in the very same year, mostly on office rental and advertising.
Hollywood Career
Social media stardom was not enough for Bilzerian, and he also appeared in Hollywood movies, both as a stuntman and actor. One of the biggest titles in his filmography is an action thriller film called "Olympus Has Fallen" with Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman. Apart from it, he also appeared in such productions as "The Equalizer " with Denzel Washington and David Harbour, "The Other Woman" with Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton, and "Lone Survivor" with Mark Wahlberg and Eric Bana.
Dan Bilzerian Fun Facts
Here are some additional fun facts about Dan Bilzerian:
He doesn't live in just one house - he moves between his two luxurious mansions. The first one is in Nevada, and the second one is in Hollywood Hills.
In 2014, he beat a model called Vanessa Castano at a Miami nightclub, where he has been banned ever since.
His Instagram account has over 33 million followers (August 2022).
He is passionate about guns and shooting and has a large collection of them.
There is a song entitled "Dan Bilzerian" recorded in 2016 by a rapper called T-Pain.
Dan has said he praises Donald Trump despite not necessarily agreeing with his opinions because this politician avoids political correctness.
Poker Icon
For many players, Dan Bilzerian is an icon who didn't stop at one victory. Poker has become his way of life, and after one successful game, he has been hungry for more. He also didn't finish at being famous in the gambling world - he also became a well-known social media influencer and even made it to perform in a few Hollywood movies with a great cast. We are curious to see what he is up to next!
