Dan Bilzerian: Player Profile

Known as the “King of Instagram” in the poker world, Dan Bilzerian is notable for being a professional poker player who does not hesitate to share his lavish lifestyle to the whole world. If you take a look at his Instagram profile, you will see pictures of him with his machine guns, expensive vehicles, hot girls, and stacks of cash. He even posted a photo of bundles of cash worth $100,000, claiming that he was going to use the sum to buy lottery tickets.

A lot of people admire and even envy him, while there are still some who consider him as one of the most detestable humans on the face of the planet. Whatever you feel about him, the fact still remains that he is one of the richest poker personalities today. So, how much is the Dan Bilzerian net worth? Be prepared to be surprised because the Dan Bilzerian worth is massive!

Dan Bilzerian Net Worth

Sometime in 2015, Dan was interviewed by TV and radio personality, Howard Stern. It was in this talk that the poker player revealed the Dan Bilzerian net worth was around $100 million. He comes home to a large estate in Hollywood Hills that features a room full of guns, muscle vehicles, and a pet goat. Seriously, every Instagram post he has features different sets of women and he claims not paying for any of them.

Where Did Dan Bilzerian’s Money Come From?

Have you tried searching the Internet for Dan’s poker stats? He claims to have won around $50 million from playing poker in a year. However, the only documented Dan Bilzerian winnings from tournaments was worth $36,626. According to The Hendon Mob, Dan joined the World Series of Poker in 2009 and placed 180th in the $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em event. Just by looking at the Dan Bilzerian worth, we can conclude that playing poker at tournaments definitely is not the reason why he’s rich. So where did his money come from? Let’s take a look at some of the theories circulating the Internet.

Theory Number One: Dan Bilzerian Inherited a Massive Sum

Unlike other pro poker players like Tom Dwan, Dan Bilzerian did not build his bankroll by playing small stakes online. He is the son of the infamous Paul Bilzerian, a corporate raider who was convicted of tax laws and securities violations in relation to his unsuccessful takeovers of different companies during the 80s.

Even before Dan Bilzerian became a notable poker player and a filthy rich guy, he has been living with his father in a massive 28,000-square feet mansion in Tampa. The estate featured a water slide, an indoor basketball court, and a batting cage. In 1993 after the elder Bilzerian’s conviction, the court ordered him to pay $62 million. According to a 2014 article from the Wall Street Journal, the US Securities and Exchange Commission managed to recover only $3.7 million. This was mainly because Paul allegedly channelled his funds by filing several bankruptcies and putting up trust funds for his children, including Dan. The poker personality has acknowledged the existence of such trust funds in separate interviews. However, he did not reveal the exact amount of his “inheritance.”

Theory Number Two: Dan Bilzerian Won Big From Private Poker Cash Games

Remember that big poker scandal involving Hollywood celebrities such as Leonardo di Caprio, Tobey Maguire, and Ben Affleck? In 2013, Molly Bloom was convicted for making a massive profit out of organising private, illegal poker games. The aforementioned Hollywood A-listers were allegedly her clients. Rumour has it that Dan was also involved in these private games. They say that with buy-ins worth around $5,000 to $50,000, these private games could go wild. In one night, players could lose $3 million or they could win over $10 million in a heads-up match. Dan must have had the best poker hands for being able to build such a massive net worth.

In an interview with GQ, Dan said that be began playing poker when he was in college. During that time, he lost a lot of money that he even had to sell his precious guns. After selling those guns, he went to Las Vegas and earned $187,000 from playing poker. He even boasted about winning at least $90,000 per week in private games when he was in college. By 2010, he already made a name around the private poker circle. Professional poker player Todd Witteles even mentioned at one point that Dan showed up at a private game with $100,000 in his suitcase.

Theory Number Three: Dan Bilzerian Worth Was Built From Acting and Advertisement Gigs

Poker is definitely not the only thing that Dan is passionate about. He is one of the few professional poker players who also appeared on the silver screen in between their games. He has appeared in films like Lone Survivor, Olympus Has Fallen, The Other Woman, The Equalizer and Cat Run 2. He only had minor roles from these movies, and some sources say that Dan even invested in the films just so he could appear in them.

For instance, in Lone Survivor, Dan reportedly loaned the producers $1 million, and in exchange, he would be promised a minimum of 80 words of dialogue and eight minutes of screen time. His appearance was cut to a minute and he only had one line in the movie. In 2014, he filed a lawsuit demanding $1.2 million from the production. He eventually dropped the suit, claiming that the movie already made him $1.5 million richer.

Dan was also involved in a number of marketing campaigns. For instance, he appeared alongside Verne Troyer in the popular “Beat the Boss” ad for BGO. It was reported that the whole campaign was worth £15 million. Just recently, DraftKings also recruited Dan in their campaign to encourage Americans to try out daily fantasy sports. In this campaign, Dan was given the task to spend $250,000 on a three-day Southern California trip with several models.

DraftKings threw in a competition for the players and encouraged them to beat Dan’s football roster. If they win, they get to join Dan in the lavish getaway. This was the caption that the poker player posted on his Instagram: “So I guess Draft Kings figured they hadn't spent enough money running commercials so they gave me 250k to spend on a 3 day Cabo trip hosted by a bunch of models, I usually spend 150k for 4-5 days, so it will be a bit of a challenge to spend it, but I'm sure I can find a way.”

About Dan Bilzerian

Dan was born on 7 December 1980 in Tampa, Florida. He is the son of Wall Street corporate raider Paul Bilzerian and Terri Steffen. Dan has a brother named Adam who also competed in a number of World Series of Poker tournaments. After graduating from high school, Dan spent four years in the Navy and underwent the gruelling training. However, just a few weeks prior to his graduation, he was dismissed from the program after being involved in a dispute with one of the administration officers. Some reports say that he got kicked out because of a “safety violation on the shooting range.”


3