Poker Fatties: Overweight Is So 1998

READ MORE: Gastric Bypass, Poker

Heavy guy looking for an easy way out? Meet Ray Truelove, who waddled his big ass down to the doctor’s to get a quote have gastric bypass surgery. Unfortunately, his employer refused the request to have his insurance pick it up, even though he was a good 220 pounds or more overweight. We’ll let the reporter tell the rest:

Truelove said the first thing that allowed him to get the operation without the aid of insurance was when the California-based surgery center agreed to cut its price nearly in half — from about $50,000 to $26,150 — if he paid in cash.

Then, on St. Patrick’s Day, Truelove took his daughter to a Harrah’s casino in New Orleans to celebrate her 21st birthday. While there, he hit the $25,000 jackpot at a Caribbean stud poker table.

After taxes, Truelove ended up taking home about $17,000 — leaving him a little more than $10,000 short for the operation, he said. But when he got home from the trip, he found a letter in the mail stating that he had been approved for a $15,000 loan.

“I had been praying to God to provide a way for this to happen,” he said. “You will never convince me that it didn’t happen that way.”

This isn’t in our top one hundred things we’d do with $25k, but to each their own. We’d still rather do two chicks at the same time than undergo an operation, but you go Ray Truelove! To make it even sweeter? His employer ended up on the hook for the expense, and had to reimburse him for the surgery.

Gamble paid off for Truelove, but county will pay [Bryan-College Station Eagle]
Previously: More Fun With Poker Fatties: A Wake-Up Call [Oddjack]