Mayweather Fight Nets Big Score for High-Stakes Community

At the weekend, Floyd Mayweather beat Conor McGregor to cap off a flawless boxing career consisting of 50 wins and no defeats, with his winning streak dating back to his first professional fight in 1996. The contest, which was held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, was also dubbed the “Money Fight” of the century, with Mayweather’s odds originally starting out at 22.5 to 1 before dropping to 3.75 to 1 just before the fight.

With Floyd Mayweather considered a sure thing right from the start, all the big, smart money went streaming into a Mayweather victory, and amongst those taking advantage of the situation were a number of pros from the poker community. One of those was Andrew Moreno, who apparently felt compelled to place a bet 50 times larger than any he had previously done because of the “plus EV situation,” explaining:

“It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about piling all the money in at like an 80% favorite. That’s all I can do. The rest is up to the poker gods, or, the judges.”

Similarly, Tony Dunst made his largest sporting bet ever, too, with his wager based upon the “smart, informed people” he knew thinking that it was a good bet.

“You’re getting it good, and it doesn’t mean you can’t lose. It’s just you see a spot that you think is favorable to you, that is advantageous, so you just try to take it, and you cross your fingers you don’t lose.”

Amongst the numerous other poker players placing hefty bets on the fight was Brian Rast, Bill Perkins and Scott Seiver, and as Max Silver humorously tweeted at one point:

“If bitcoin crashes and Mcgregor wins tonight we might just see the end of poker.”

Despite getting a sweat for their money in the early rounds, however, it didn’t take long for Mayweather to get a stranglehold on the fight, though, with his eventual win in the 10th round providing a huge boost to the high stakes players’ bankroll. Bitcoin is also riding high at $4,314 at the moment, so all in all its turned out to be a pretty good week all round for the poker community.