With over $9.6 million in live poker tournament winnings, Sorel Mizzi has shown that he has nerves of steel at the poker table. Interestingly enough, Mizzi also showed that his strong mental fortitude extends to the ocean as well.
The PartyPoker Premier League VII champion recently had an extended stay in Brazil, where he decided to do something crazy – swim three miles across the ocean! To be exact, Mizzi made a prop bet that he would make it from Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema Beach to an island three miles off the coast.
When Mizzi made his announcement via twitter, many people urged him not to go through with the bet. After all, the ocean is filled with sharks, jellyfish and all sorts of other creatures that humans would rather not swim near. What’s more is that the ocean currents can get pretty bad once you get too far away from the shore – something that inexperienced swimmers like Mizzi should avoid.
Nevertheless, Mizzi went through with the bet and wagered $10,000 of his own money against $30,000 from those taking his 3:1 odds. And he ended up winning the $30k after completing the death-defying swim across the 3-mile stretch of the Atlantic.
It certainly wasn’t easy, though, as it took the poker pro around four hours to complete the ocean journey. He had a boat following him the whole way, but it’s not like he could’ve just grabbed on to the boat to help him make the swim.
At one point, Mizzi got so tired that he simply tried to stay in the same spot for 20 minutes to catch his breath. The waves began pushing him away from the island, so he started swimming again to cover the final 600 meters. Once Mizzi touched the island rock, he shouted for the boat to hurry and get him so that he could finally get out of the water.
If you’d like to see all of the updates involved Mizzi’s swim, just check out the aforementioned twitter link.
