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Blake Martinez made an unusual career change when he abruptly quit from the NFL in the middle of the 2022 season. Martinez, who was playing for the Las Vegas Raiders at the time, chose to devote his entire attention to a side venture he began during the COVID-19 pandemic: purchasing and selling Pokemon cards.
No, it's not a joke. During the 2022 offseason, Martinez went so far as to establish his own firm, Blake's Breaks. According to CNBC's Megan Sauer, Martinez's firm garnered a whopping $5 million in income on Whatnot, a collection resale marketplace.
Martinez, 29, started reselling his Pokemon cards in 2020, at the start of the epidemic, after seeing how much money other influencers were making from the fad. During several of his Giants news conferences in 2021, he even mentioned Pokemon cards and spent hundreds of dollars on packs of cards, some of which were worthless. Martinez ultimately struck gold in October, when he sold a rare Pikachu card for $672,000 at the "Pawn Stars" Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas.
Martinez told CNBC that he opted to devote more attention to his firm after being released by the Giants in September following two seasons in New York. Despite the fact that he was still signed with the Raiders, Martinez stated that he worked 80 hours per week on his business in addition to his time with the club. Martinez claims that a quarter of the money is reinvested in the firm, with the remainder going to him and the company's 15 contract employees.
There is a significant distinction between playing football, particularly linebacker. Throughout his seven NFL seasons, Martinez amassed 706 combined tackles in 84 games. He even topped the league in tackles in 2017 with the Green Bay Packers, averaging 148.6 from 2017 to 2020. Martinez, however, sustained a season-ending ACL injury three weeks into the 2021 season and was released a year later.
Therefore, after seven years of hitting and injuries, Martinez claimed his choice to quit the NFL for his firm was influenced by his desire to live pain-free.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
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