Michael Phelps eyeing Poker after 2012 Olympics


The 2012 Summer Olympics may still be raging on in London, but for Michael Phelps, the Olympics are over. He added four more gold medals and two silvers this year, which is a nice cap to what seems like the end of his career. So what’s next for the most decorated Olympic athlete in history?

Well it looks like he’s already planning his next move with poker. He’s dabbled in poker before, and now there are rumors of him preparing to hit the felt again. Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth are just two of the poker players who have been keeping Phelps company, and ever since the 2008 Olympics, it seems like the game has become one of his main hobbies. Since Phelps enjoys poker so much, it’s rumored that he wants to become more serious about playing in the future.

The New York Times revealed the swimmer’s future plans of focusing more on poker with the following:

An avid card player, Phelps said it would be cool to participate in the World Series of Poker. “My game is a little off right now,” he said, “so I’ll have to start improving it a little bit.”

Since he was a little preoccupied with training for the 2012 Summer Olympics this year, he wasn’t able to focus as much energy on playing poker. Not to worry though…there is always next year’s WSOP and with the swimming career being put on the back burner, he can finally focus on poker.

Michael Phelps will surely enjoy his time away from swimming by returning to as normal of a life as possible for the all-time Olympic gold medal record holder (18). He plans to go to NFL football games, have play dates with the likes of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.