NBA legend Michael Jordan is well-known for his love of gambling, including plenty of action at the poker table during his time with the Chicago Bulls. Apparently, that love of card playing even led to high-stakes games during the playoffs.
Former New York Knicks player and ESPN commentator Mark Jackson recently detailed a story on fellow NBA alum Gilbert Arenas’ podcast about hitting the poker table before a key matchup against the Bulls.
“I was benched,” he said. “We’re playing the Bulls, so I get a call the night before.”
“‘You want to play some cards and hang out whatever, just chill?’ I go into the city, go to Mike’s room, play cards. I’m not playing [in the game]. I know I’m benched, so, I’m playing cards. I’m doing my job. I’m going to keep them up all night.”
Jackson recalled that the game lasted most of the night and his intended mission had the reverse effect. He even needed a nap the next morning at the arena, exhausted from marathon poker session. While the action may have affected Jackson, Jordan seemed unphased.
“This dude got 50!” Jackson said. “How is this dude still surviving?’ But he did it to everybody and every single night.”
Last year, 17-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth detailed his own missed opportunity to play against Jordan. On the NESN Chicken Dinner Podcast, Hellmuth described meeting the six-time NBA champion and five-time league MVP several times, one of which included a poker challenge. Hellmuth had to decline the offer on that occasion.
“He challenged me once and I didn’t have a lot of money in town,” Hellmuth said. “I was stupid. I should have just called my friends and said, ‘Hey, (send me some money).’ And (Jordan) would have wanted to play until seven in the morning.”
Six-time bracelet winner Josh Arieh did get a chance to play Jordan, but did not enjoy the experience, as he recalled on Card Player’s Poker Stories podcast back in 2021.
“I grew up with Jordan being the end-all, the GOAT,” Arieh explained. “A friend of mine called me and asked if I wanted to play golf with Jordan with some poker afterwards… and it was a miserable experience. There were probably 15 carts of people following us around. He was just this big, over-the-top alpha male.”
“But then we played poker, and that was more my element so I thought it was going to be different. But it wasn’t. The stupid jokes just kept on coming. Every time he said anything, even if it wasn’t remotely funny, the whole place would erupt into laughter. I didn’t enjoy it a bit.”
The late Layne Flack, also a six-time bracelet winner, told the podcast that he was once recruited by the Chicago mafia to play in Jordan’s game, except he was banned before he could play in the game after being outed as a poker pro by David Letterman on national TV.