Michael Phelps Plays in a Weekly $25,000 Poker Game

He Can Afford It; He's Worth at Least $45 Million

He may be retired from swimming, but ultimate Olympian Michael Phelps still has a major competitive streak, and he's employing it in a weekly high-stakes poker game.

How high stakes? There's a $25,000 buy-in.

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Chipist.com (via SportsGrid.com) reports that Phelps has been a poker fan for a while, and initially started in much smaller, $1/2 games.  

But he has also befriended people like poker legend Doyle Brunson along the way, and his good friend's advice has led Phelps to better his poker skills to the point of being perfectly comfortable throwing 25 grand onto the table.

"I love to play, it's fun, it's exciting. It was more something so that I could have time to myself," Phelps told Card Player magazine. "I could relax, I could be myself, and I could have fun.  It's a place where I can be me. I've met some of my best friends at a poker table. Some of the kids I'm always with, who I talk to every day."

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Besides, Phelps -- who recently retired after winning his 18th gold medal as an Olympian -- probably has watches worth more than some homes, so $25,000 to him may not be like dropping $25,000 on a card game to you or me.

And considering that he's probably only going to get richer, thanks to some new post-Olympics endorsement deals … again, he's probably not too worried about dropping some dollars in poker.

Not that we think the most decorated Olympian of all time will lose that often. A guy that used to winning probably isn't going to participate in a high-stakes competition of any kind unless he's pretty good at it, right?