High-stakes poker players are known for spending big sums of money at the poker table and at times on crazy prop bets. With the 2021 WSOP set to start in September 2021, a number of high-stakes players are saving their bankroll to play all of the high-stakes events at the WSOP.
Some high-stakes poker players are not waiting for the 2021 WSOP. They are focusing their attention on the cryptocurrency market and the growing NFT market. Before we talk about the NFT market, we realize that a lot of our readers may not understand what an NFT is.
What are NFTs?
Non-fungible tokens are commonly referred to as NFTs in the digital world. These non-fungible tokens can cover a wide variety of digital items ranging from a drawing of a rock, a simple jpg file, or an online sports video. There are a lot of digital items that can qualify as an NFT as long as they meet the non-fungible requirement part.
Non-fungible means that the NFT is unique and cannot be duplicated with someone else. Most of these NFTs run on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain and hence are bought and sold using ETH. NFTs have been making a lot of noise in 2021 as a number of digital art pieces in the NFT world have sold for six figures plus.
High Stakes Poker Players Involved In NFTs
Some of the top high stakes poker players in the world are now turning their attention to the NFT market. Mike “Timex” McDonald turned heads in the NFT world when he decided to put down 125 ETH to buy a picture of a digital rock. The picture looked like it was created by a 12-year old using an old version of Microsoft Paintbrush – for those of you who remember that that is!
If you are not familiar with cryptocurrencies and don’t have any idea of the price of ETH, let us break down the numbers for you. The price of ETH in August 2021 has been fluctuating a little over around the $3,100 market. When you look at the amount that McDonald paid in fiat currency it amounts to nearly $400,000.
Mike McDonald can afford to splurge some money on NFTs as he has over $13.3 million in career prize money based on the Hendon Mob. He is ranked number 6 on Canada’s All Time Money list and number 53 on the All Time poker list.
McDonald posted a picture of the Ether rock that he purchased and confirmed that he paid out a total of $409.627.50. He said the design looked far too rare for him to not buy it. While a lot of people will think this NFT purchase is ridiculous, these digital pieces of art do hold legitimate value and are considered an investment.
McDonald claimed that he could sell his rock for 1000 ETH within 24 hours and make a lot more money than he paid for it. Doug Polk who founded Upswing Poker said there were a lot of poker players investing in NFTs but not posting about it on social media.
Polk Considers NFTs A Good Investment
Polk is a big cryptocurrency enthusiast and said there is a lot of investment potential in buying Ether rocks. He shed more light on Ether rocks saying they are one of the first NFTs to hit the market and there are currently only 100 Ether rocks on offer. He said most investors will hold on to these Ether rock NFTs for a long time as they will go up in value.
Some of the old-school high stake poker players don’t understand NFTs or the logic of spending so much cash on a digital piece of art that looks like something a fifth-grader drew. The younger generation of high-stakes poker players is going to take a bet on NFTs as the upside currently appears a lot bigger than the upside at a poker table.