Joe Ingram And Bill Perkins In a Crazy Swimming Prop Bet

“Chicago” Joey Ingram is a grown man who, he claims, has never learned to swim. If it seems implausible that a man whose wardrobe contains so many sleeveless gym tops has only ever chilled by the pool, without taking a dip or doing a cannonball, then you might want to get in on the following action cus you’ve found yourself a ringer.

According to his Twitter-feed Ingram is in for five large on a bet against Bill Perkins, poker player, gambler and long time pal of Ingram’s. Perkins is laying 3-1 odds that Ingram will not be able to swim one mile by the end of September, on the basis that Ingram really is a total fish out of water when it comes to swimming.

While at first blush it might sound like from arm-bands to one mile, in just eight or nine weeks seems insurmountable task, let’s not forget Joe Ingram is a young man in the prime of his life, he’s into his sports and one mile is not as far as it sounds – just 32, and a little change, lengths in an Olympic sized swimming pool. Once Ingram’s actually learned to swim, he’s most of the way there.

Having said that, given his most recent Instagram video update on the bet, learning to swim might take him a little while.

So what do you do when you’re a poker player with a problem? Get up early – sometimes even before noon – and throw some money at it. Which is precisely what Ingram is doing:

“I have a coach coming by tomorrow,” he says on Instagram, “and have some other content to consume tonight on GTO swimming techniques.”

In honour of his sink-or-swim wager, Ingram has also changed his name to Joey Phelps on Twitter invoking the spirit of the sometime poker player and all-the-time gold winning American Olympian, Michael Phelps. We’ll see if the name has worked its charm in a couple of months.

In the meantime, someone should probably notify the coast guard in St. Thomas – presumably in either the one in Barbados or the U.S. Virgin Islands? He doesn’t mention – I think they should know there’s gonna be a shark in the water come September 31st; and the shark might just need saving.