ShareIt may not be poker, but Jim āMattress Mackā McIngvaleās $11.4million losses in just 10 weeks will resonate with the sportsbetting fans in the poker community ā a losing streak that challenges the biggest poker losses in history!
Mattress Mack is having a tough week... pic.twitter.com/Yo3UmebcgG
ā The Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) January 16, 2022
For those who havenāt heard of Jim āMattress Mackā McIngvale, he is the 70-year-old owner of the Gallery Furniture retail chain and he likes nothing more than making monster bets on sports, in particular the Houston Astros.
With a net worth estimated at $300million, McIngvale ā like many before and since ā had a love of poker while at university, before focusing his efforts on business.
This week he may have been wishing he had stuck to the green felt as a series of bad results cost him more than $8million ā an expensive start to 2022 and continuing the bad run from late last year.
The horrible run started last November when he spewed $3.3m after betting on his favourite Houston Astros to beat the Atlanta Braves in the 2021 Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series. The Braves ran out 4-2 winners and Mattress Mackās nightmare began.
Ignoring the above tweets typos saying 2021, it was last Monday night that saw him wager $6.1million on Alabama Crimson Tide to win the NCAA, but the collegiate American football title went to Georgia Bulldogs in a 33-18 win.
Five days later, Mattress Mackās luck was still running cold as another $2million went down the drain as the Buffalo Bills beat the New England Patriots 47-17. That made it $11.4million of losses in less than 10 weeks, which equates to selling an awful lot of mattresses.
The one saving grace is that McIngvale uses the massive bets to offset promotions at his stores, which often sees customers spending more than $3k receiving their money back if his big bets come in. When they donāt, as in recent weeks, he can count on his furniture profits to balance the books!
For everyone getting ready to call Mattress Mack a loser: The truth is he wins plenty with the Braves.
ā Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 3, 2021
Lost $3.25 million insurance bet, but motivated people to buy $25 million worth of mattresses. Based on 40-60% margin, he probably nets between $6M to $8M after all costs.
And if poker players are used to a big sweat from time to time, spare a thought for McIngvale who stood to win $84.8m had all his bets come in.
As far as massive poker losses go, there are a few contenders for the top spot...
Alec Gores ā $50million
Thatās how much Dan Bilzerian claims to have taken from billionaire financier Alec Gores in private poker games, a figure Gores disputes and which has led to talks of a $100million grudge match.
Not that Gores needs to worry about such paltry sums, having allegedly won $700million from Andy Beal over the years, with the State of California apparently billing him for $350million in taxes!
Archie Karas ā $40million
It took Karas more than two years of winning to get his roll up to $40million, but less than three weeks to lose it all ā the biggest rags to riches and back again tale poker has ever seen.
Highstakes poker games saw Karas list the likes of Stu Ungar, Johnny Moss, Chip Reese and Doyle Brunson among his victims, with only Johnny Chan coming away with a win.
When Karasā incredible run ended though, it was Chip Reese among the players who profited, and the gambling pits took care of $millions more.
Guy Laliberte ā $31million
The Cirque du Soleil founder, estimated to be worth more than $1billion, found an escape from the rigours of business in the world of highstakes online poker.
Unfortunately for the Canadian entrepreneur, his skills on the virtual felt simply werenāt up to scratch as the poker boom took hold, and under various guises he lost more than $30million.
Playing against the likes of Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom, Tom ādurrrrā Dwan and other legends, Guy Laliberte became known as pokerās biggest-ever whale ā an embarrassing tag that led to him giving up the online game.
Andy Beal ā $16million
That figure may be the thin end of a much thicker wedge, as it only counts the losses the billionaire Texan banker lost in the infamous highstakes Vegas games against āthe Corporationā.
The incredible match-up between Andy Beal and Vegas pokerās biggest names was told in the fantastic book, āThe Professor, The Banker and The Suicide Kingā by Michael Craig.
Chip Reese, Doyle Brunson, Ted Forrest, Jennifer Harman and others took turns to battle the banker, who emerged $13million ahead. When he returned for a rematch, Phil Ivey wiped out those losses and took Beal for more than $16million.
