Poker Pro Brian Rast Wins $600K In Biking Prop Bet
High-stakes poker player Brian Rast has joined the quick list of gamblers who've completed the Las Vegas-to-Los Angeles bike ride in under 48 hours.
Rast, who followed Dan Bilzerian’s nearly $1 million ride, successfully completed the roughly 300-mile ride on Thursday, with only one hour to spare. Rast received $600,000 in total from Bilzerian and fellow high-stakes gambler Bill Perkins for winning the bet. The latter two gave Rast 6:1 odds because Rast had lower than per week to train.
“If that was any further difficult, I don’t think I'LL have completed the task,” Rast said on social media. “I pushed myself to absolutely the limit.” He added a thanks to “all the folks that supported me during my ride.”
“I will probably post more about my experience over again. Now I ATTEMPT TO return to sleep,” he wrote early Thursday.
His feat after all caught the eye of many within the poker community. “What he accomplished trumps what every other player has done physically,” said Antonio Esfandiari. Rast is “a legend in my eyes and this accomplishment will go down in history as some of the greatest.”
Unlike Bilzerian, Rast was explicitly prohibited from drafting behind a vehicle.
Card Player had the danger to talk to Rast on Monday just hours before he hit the road.
Brian Pempus: How did you make a decision to try this bet?
Brian Rast: Dan came visiting to my house simply to hang around and feature some BBQ. Dan was really looking to push this bet. There’s a bit of more to the back-story than that, but basically I WISHED a big gamble where I'LL choose the route…[a previous] bet was going to be down the Pacific Coast Highway in California with the wind at my back. I USED TO BE going so as to use recumbent bikes and everything. I BELIEVE Dan’s motivation was that this bet was going to vindicate him somehow [from the former bet he bought out of], that this was going to be tougher. I MAY have maybe done a greater job with one of the vital stipulations. I wish I MAY use a recumbent bike. It’s hard when where you might be getting 6:1 to argue an excessive amount of for stipulations. As of right now, there's a lot of wind in a foul direction for me.
BP: Did the truth that Dan was capable of complete his Las Vegas-to-LA ride in about 33 hours come up with confidence which you could do that inside the 48?
BR: I definitely think that it’s possible. It’s going to be really tough. I'M GOING a rather longer route than Dan because I WOULD LIKE to spend as little time at the highway as possible for safety reasons. I CAN have rather less of a climb than him, but it’s going to be about 30 more miles. I CAN actually have a leaner crew than him. IT'S NOT THAT I AM going to have a health care provider and a masseuse. I WILL have some friends and family and one bike person. I also didn’t get to coach for 5 weeks [laughs]. I'VE basically trained for 3 days. That is going to be really tough. I BELIEVE in Dan’s bet it was pretty clear he was going to win it unless he got in an accident. Dan was a large favorite, but I don’t think any folks really have an idea if I WILL BE ABLE TO do what I'M about to do. I'M optimist, but Dan’s [bike] coach said that he didn’t think I MAY do it, for the reason that I'M probably going to be facing a headwind and i've no training. But that may be one man’s opinion. This isn’t an even-money bet, though, so it’s not presupposed to be easy.
BP: Is that this essentially the most challenging prop bet you’ve ever agreed to do?
BR: Yeah, that is. It’s going to be very interesting. We're going to be leaving later today. It’s a type of things where it's a must to put your head down and trust for your team. I HAVE TO stay consistent and switch out miles, eat regularly and hydrate. There are going to be times when I’m in a large number of pain. I never used a road bike until like per week ago.
BP: What must happen so that you can call it quits throughout the ride?
BR: I ASSUME I MIGHT must get to some degree where it’s mathematically impossible to complete. Like if I had 100 miles to move and that i had four hours left. Probably the most last part has a good amount of downhill though. If I got some more or less injury from a crash where there has been an excessive amount of biking left to continue. There might be an overuse or strain injury. I realize that that is going to be painful, so I DO KNOW I WILL suffer for 48 hours. That is a kind of moments where you will find what you're product of. It'd be possible that physically I can’t do this.
BP: Did your commitment to fitness years ago provde the needed confidence to conform to this though?
BR: Yeah, if I had a lower level of fitness I don’t think I'D have even entertained this. So, it helps that I THINK like I'M fit. This bet isn’t just aerobically taxing, like my heart rate goes to be 140 the entire time. You’d should be a world-class athlete to try this. If I'M GOING 10 mph, which isn’t that fast, I MAY do that in 32 hours. Then I'D have 16 hours for breaks. When you consider averaging 10 mph is doable. MANY OF THE ride I WILL BE ABLE TO be keeping my heart rate at like 115. I’ve never done anything with reference to this though, so I FEEL that’s why the fee is what it is.
BP: Did you consider this bet, given its proximity to the beginning of the arena Series of Poker, so that you could basically freeroll the summer?
BR: I definitely am not desirous about it in relation to future poker play, more like $600,000 is lots of cash (laughs). I'D be more than pleased if I won $600,000. I REALLY haven’t had an excellent year to this point in cash games, so if I win this bet I just about get even for the year. That’s something a good way to be refreshing going into the sector Series, but IT'S NOT THAT I AM enthusiastic about it on the subject of future buy-ins. I don’t really recall to mind it in that sense.
BP: With regards to pushing the envelope on sleep, do you're thinking that your history playing marathon cash game sessions may be useful at the ride if you're forced to ride in the course of the night?
BR: Yeah, that may be something I'VE considered. I’ve done multiple 40+ hour sessions in my life. Then again, poker may be very sedentary. There are things which can be different, but I'M HOPING my experience with sleep depravation will help, especially focusing while sleep deprived. Last summer I played over 100 hours of poker each week in the course of the WSOP. One of the most big things isn't falling off the bike when tired. Falling off the bike is the worst thing that may happen.
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[Source: CardPlayer Poker News]
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