Golfing Poker Pro Says No to Lawsuit
Written by RogerCP | Friday, August 14th, 2009
After enjoying his ten minutes of glory, online poker pro, Dusty Schmidt announced this week that he is dropping his much publicized lawsuit against the United States Golf Association.
Schmidt challenged the USGA’s decision to revoke his amateur golfing status after the association found that he had offered to bet his own money against anyone who could beat him in a joint poker and golf competition in 2006.
If you remember, the drama began when Schmidt was a promising up and coming junior golfer in California, whose life suddenly changed due to a heart attack at the super young age of 23.
To keep his mind busy during his long recovery period, Schmidt discovered that he had a natural talent for online poker and soon took up this sport, earning himself – according to him – in a good month over $100K. Schmidt says that his total winnings in the game have earned him over $3 million.
Fully recovered from his heart attack, Schmidt decided to request that the US Golf Association reinstate his amateur status. However, the player still continued playing online poker and decided to make some extra money by challenging anyone to beat him in a joint poker and golf competition through a poker site that he co-owned.
After getting wind of what Schmidt called his Million Dollar Challenge, the USGA decided that these were grounds enough to turn down the application, citing that self promotion was “detrimental to the best interests of the amateur game.”
In his lawsuit that challenged the decision, Schmidt argued that nobody took up his offer anyway – yet the USGA stood its ground.
As noted, it was announced this week that Schmidt has decided to drop the lawsuit, after consulting with his lawyers and deciding that he really had no chance against the powerful sporting body.
He has now decided to focus on his golf game by seeking the help of professional player, Brian Henniger. “We’ve just been working hard to get my game ready, because obviously I have to step it up,” admitted Schmidt.
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· Written by RogerCP · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
