The Name is Stunt, James Stunt
7 years ago
07 Jul
(Photo: Dailymail.co.uk)
It would appear that Dan Bilzerian has some serious opposition in the mega-wealthy, high-stakes, poker lifestyle of the rich and famous world… the name’s Stunt, James Stunt, and he has been spotted at various casinos in London flashing off some of his reputed $7billion fortune!
If you’ve never heard of James Stunt before, you probably should have. He’s married to Petra Eccleston, daughter of the Formula 1 racing tycoon Bernie Ecclestone – and heiress to the $5billion Ecclestone fortune.
Stunt has a strangely private life, where according to Thelifeelite.com:
He’s never granted an interview. In fact, he is so private that The Life Elite was denied comment on any of our questions. We were even contacted by his lawyers to cease and desist.”
Hmmm, quite at odds with the public persona which sees him driving around in a unique $4.5million Lamborghini Aventador that was custom built, and regularly giving to charitable causes.
Late last year, the enigmatic businessman and art collector forked out ridiculous sums of money at a charity auction hosted by Trudie Styler, the wife of rockstar Sting, “extravagantly joining the bidding on four £25,000 gold ingots – weighing 1 kg each – donated by Stunt's own gold refining company,” according to the Daily Mail.
They also reported that:
In fact, he weighed in with a monster £200,000 offer – but only on condition the underbidder go higher still – then converted his bid into a donation. It was an impressively generous trick he then repeated when he ramped up the bidding for a weekend on a yacht! He also agreed to add £30,000 to top-up the final price for a sculpture. By the time the evening was over, Stunt, who sponsored the event, was also its most generous giver, having pledged a cool £265,000.”
And what, may you ask, has any of this to do with a poker site?
Well, recently he has been spotted parting with his not-so-hard-earned cash at various casinos, and it appears he may also be trying his hand at the highest-stakes online.
Over on our favourite 2plus2 news, views, and gossip forum, a new poster set the rumour-machine in motion by sharing the following.
Lolcheaters2016 wrote:
A player turned up at the high stakes PokerStars games in the last few weeks, the account is named 'James Stunt' - after the man who is married to billionaire, Petra Eccelstone. He didn't make his own money himself, his Father In Law gifted it to him. Onto BoostedJ. Who has seemingly moved from LA to London for some business venture with a guy called Alex Tulloch. As seen from his Instagram pics, Boosted shouts out tulls2010 who is Alex Tulloch. Further investigation Tulloch works for James Stunt, at Stunt&Co. So is it fair to say that it isn't James Stunt who's never played online poker before but BoostedJ on that account.“
And who is BoostedJ? None other than high-stakes poker pro Justin Smith, who has $2.5million in tournament earnings and lord only knows how many times more than that in online and cash game winnings where he specializes.
Games as high as $4K/$8K blind PLO marathon sessions at the Bellagio, Rio, and Aria in Vegas regularly see Smith at the table, as does the famous ‘Bobby’s Game’ at the Bellagio. He’s also a familiar face from TV poker shows such as the Million Dollar Cash Game and Poker After Dark on NBC.
However, it may well be that James Stunt is indeed the player having a pop at the Stars big game – rather than his friend Smith – after the billionaire was spotted with his entourage in several London casinos.
‘PeterBenson’ replied:
Not 100% sure it isn't James Stunt", speaking of the online account. “He has been showing up at various poker rooms around London in the last few weeks. He always has 5 body guards with him and wants to play the highest stakes available. Comes across as a complete tool.”
London is the city where he shares an £88million home with wife Petra and their three children. They also own The Manor, the former Spelling home in LA, which was on the market for $150million several years ago. Apparently Stunt’s wife got the price knocked down to a measly $85million – not bad for the largest home in the entire county!
If the five bodyguards seem excessive – “his private security includes former special and alpha forces” according to Theelite.com - then you need to know that just last month their London home was targeted by a fire-bomb which exploded n the grounds of their Chelsea mansion next to Petra’s Land Rover car.
Although such incidents among the mega-wealthy are often tied to business disputes and attributed to ‘mafia-type’ hits, it would appear that in this case the likely culprits may be class-warrior anarchists incensed by the couple’s ostentatious show of wealth.
Stunt’s car collection boasts over 200 luxury and exotic vehicles, including several bullet proof and bomb proof, long wheel base, Mansory Rolls Royce Phantoms, a vintage Ferrari 250LM, and an Aventador Lamborghini—to name a few. In addition to his famous car collection, he has a sizable collection of rare master paintings, specialty suits, wine, and even cigars. He also recently bought a Van Gogh painting for a reported $95million and was recently seen leaving a cosmetic surgery centre frequented by the rich and famous in Beverly Hills.
So, with such a lifestyle, it isn’t a stretch of the imagination to see Stunt trying his hand online at poker – he certainly has the money to fritter it away at the highest stakes live or online.
According to Highstakes DB:
The poker player James Stunt was first discovered by HighstakesDB on the high stakes tables of PokerStars on Saturday, June 25, 2016. Since then, a total of 1968 poker hands have been tracked with James Stunt's results being - $206,405.”
This could, of course, be Justin Smith as the 2plus2 original poster alleges, but judging by the hands played, it really is more likely to be James Stunt himself.
A report on a Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates’ win against the JamesStunt account last week makes for miserable viewing from the billionaire’s side:
The biggest online highstakes match at PokerStars yesterday took place between Dan "w00ki3z." Cates and a new account at the nosebleeds, James Stunt. Cates came off by far the better, winning $133k at the $50/$100 PLO tables,” they state, adding that, “The action took place, mainly heads-up, over a four hour period yesterday afternoon, with Cates winnings at four of the six tables the pair played, suffering only minor losses at his two losing tables.”
Cates biggest table win of $61k came from a 40 minute session at table Tithonus II, although both of the day's biggest pots came from his +$55k 50 minute session at table Behrens II. The hand shows James Stunt drawing dead after raising all-in on the turn with two pair against w00ki3z. top set - James Stunt bluffs with nothing but a busted flush draw on the river only for w00ki3z to call with two pair and scoop the $58.3k pot.
Naturally, if it is Stunt himself, he can afford to lose big to enjoy his time among the big boys of the real high-stakes poker world, but the curious thing is that his money has no apparent ‘source.' Even billionaire father-in-law, Bernie Ecclestone, has been musing about this.
A recent investigation by The Mail on Sunday revealed that Stunt “suffered a string of unsuccessful companies before 2011. And financial experts say that, while there's absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing, some of his complex dealings would appear to be less than orthodox.”
A business venture with Britain's oldest bookmakers Heathorns, founded in 1890, turned sour and “within months of Stunt becoming a director, the company was in trouble,” and the joint enterprise with American betting entrepreneur Thomas Taule “saw the firm's parent company, Interactive Gaming Holdings, run by Taule, had its shares suspended and stopped taking bets after punters demanded their money back. IGH went bust, owing thousands of pounds.”
Over the next few years no less than three different company ventures involving Stunt failed miserably – and those are only the ones which made the news. Then "last year came a renewed burst of activity,” it was reported by MoS “with the creation of four new companies, including Stunt Acquisitions and Stunt & Co. None has yet filed accounts. Stunt now runs his business affairs from the seventh floor of a luxury building in Curzon Street, Mayfair, once the home of MI5.”
Quite a man and quite a story. Should he hang around the poker scene for long enough, then it’s almost a shoe-in that the name James Stunt will be featuring almost as often as that Dan Bilzerian fellow. I might say, Bilzerian minus the guns, except that Stunt’s security detail are all heavily armed when on US soil – so Bilzerian minus the bevy of beauties?
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