Former NBA forward Chandler Parsons recalled how card games became a regular activity among teammates during flights, revealing that he once witnessed a player lose $45,000 on a trip from Houston to Dallas.
Parsons, who played for the Dallas Mavericks from 2014 to 2016, explained that several players regularly participated in card games while traveling with the team, including Dirk Nowitzki, Devin Harris, Vince Carter, Monta Ellis, and Rajon Rondo.
According to Parsons, the players had substantial salaries and were comfortable putting significant amounts of money into their games.
“I remember in Dallas, it would be me and Dirk would play, Devin Harris and Vince Carter or Monta Ellis. We had Rondo. We had guys with bread.”
Parsons explained that the games typically started with relatively small contributions, with each participant putting approximately $200 into the pot.
However, the amounts could increase quickly depending on the results of each round, particularly when players failed to win any books.
“So you would play, and everyone would be in. It starts at $200 a person or something, so it doesn’t sound like a lot. So two, two, two, two.”
The former Mavericks forward described how the rules required certain losing players to match the existing pot, causing the total amount at stake to increase rapidly.
What initially began as an $800 pot could double to $1,600 and then $3,200 after consecutive losses, with the process continuing throughout the flight.
“And if you get booed, which means you don’t win any books, you have to match the pot, and you’re out of the next game, if that $800 was us, matched the pot at $1,600, and then someone else got booed, it keeps $3,200 and it just kept going up, and you’re on a two-hour flight.”
Parsons said the amounts sometimes reached tens of thousands of dollars, even though the games were originally intended to help players pass the time while traveling.
He recalled one particularly expensive session in which a player lost $45,000 during a flight between two Texas cities.
“I’ve seen a dude lose 45 grand a flight from Houston to Dallas.”
