I’m sure you’ve heard poker stories like this before…
A player is very into a game but ends up having a losing streak. He loses his cool and is desperate to get back, convinced that the next hand will be THE hand to do it. So there it is, with no more money to put on the table. What does he do? He bets something else of value.
Remember the latest James Bond movie, which I actually tagged as a poker movie in an article recently? Remember that poker game between that Greek guy and Agent 007? The other guy bets his car, sure he would win. I think it was an Alfa Romeo, not sure, my memory is a bit fuzzy (all I can remember is Daniel Craig as James Bond). Anyway, Bond wins the hand and the car, of course.
The question is, does this really happen in real life?
You better believe it!
Check out this news clip from Avanova.com:
A Russian man lost his wife in a card game after placing her as a bet instead of cash. Andrei Karpov, from Murmansk, ran out of money in a poker game and offered his opponent his wife instead of cash to stay in the game.
When Karpov lost the game and his opponent Sergey Brodov showed up to claim his winnings, his wife Tatiana was so angry that she decided to divorce her husband and started a relationship with Brodov.
She has since married Brodov and said she does not regret leaving her first husband.
She said: “It was humiliating and I was completely embarrassed. But as soon as my ex-husband did that, I knew I had to leave him.”
“Sergey was a very handsome and charming man and I am very happy with him, even if he ‘beat’ me in a game of poker.”
Speaking of crazy! In this day and age you would think that putting a person as your bet would not be possible! However, when you think about it, it all sounds hilarious, doesn’t it? I mean, it bothers me that a man bets on his wife as if he is the “possessor” of him (as if a person could really possess another person). On the other hand, the wife leaves him and marries the other man, sorry but this sounds like something out of a soap opera, or something out of the Middle Ages!
It’s no wonder that people who don’t like poker view it in a negative light most of the time. When they hear or read news like this, their eyes probably widen in amazement, or maybe they shake their heads in dismay. On the other hand, this happened in Russia, where the rules can be quite different from the US or other European countries. It makes me think of Borat, you know that “journalist from Khazakstan”? It’s like something he would do. I hope I have not offended anyone with my reflections in this article. I found it really funny.
So guys, the next time you decide to bet on your wife, make sure you win. Otherwise, you could end up in divorce court!