Can WSOP Champ Bowl a Perfect 300 With $5,000 on the Line?
The best day of Ryan Riess' life was probably when he won the 2013 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event for $8.3 million. But this Monday has to rank up there as the poker pro bowled a perfect game to win a bet, and a much smaller cash prize.
The perfect bowling performance took place in a three-handed match-up at a Las Vegas bowling alley between Riess, 2023 WPT World Championship winner Dan Sepiol and top high-stakes pro Jesse Lonis — quite an accomplished group of poker players.
Riess showed he was an equally talented bowler as he drilled his last frame to have a perfect game, winning him a $5,000 bet he had with Lonis.
Despite being on the verge of losing thousands, Lonis filmed Riess' final three strikes and gave viewers the play-by-play.
Ryan Riess Closes Out
While the three are all top poker players, Riess was undoubtably the stand-out bowler of the group. Closing out the tenth and final frame, Riess held a 270 after nine consecutive strikes to crush Lonis, 156 points, and Sepiol, 159 points.
"Alright, so here's the scoop," Lonis said in a video posted to X. "If Ryan Riess bowls a 300, a lose $5,000 dollars. So he needs three strikes in a row. Here we go."
Riess proceeded to drill the first strike, and Lonis wasn't sounding confident.
"I'm bowling against the best closer of all time! The kid won the Main Event when he was 21 years old."
Riess' next two bowls went as well as the rest of the match. He drilled both strikes to bowl a perfect game as those in their group broke into cheers, which were admittedly dim compared to his rail's reaction 13 year's ago when he won the Main Event.
"And the place goes wild," Lonis said. "I lose $5k, everyone's happy."
Riess, who has $16.9 million in live earnings, can regularly be found mingling with locals in Las Vegas. Earlier this month, he played in a charity poker tournament run by the Charity Series of Poker (CSOP), which is hosting its award ceremony tonight.
Riess is far from the only poker pro with talents off the felt. Finnish poker legend Juha Helppi is the captain of a paintball team that has won a half-dozen Finnish National Paintball Champion titles. Meanwhile, American pro Kane Kalas, son of sports broadcasting icon Harry Kalas, is an accomplished singer.
*Images courtesy of Jesse Lonis via X
