Dan Bilzerian Broke All the Rules & It Paid Off BIG | E4
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Best, most defining moments of my life. When I told my professor to go fuck himself and I left class, I was like, maybe the highlight of my entire fucking life. Not fucking 10 models, not any of that shit, but telling him to get fucked because I had made $400,000 that month playing poker and I was not in the mood to hear his shit. And I fucking told him that. I said, motherfucker, I made more money last week than you'll make in the next three fucking years. So talk to me with some fucking respect.

And we had it out like and I was fucking right. And the thing that he said to me, the thing that he fucking said to me that really stuck out was, oh, if you're so fucking rich, what are you doing in college? And, you know, I thought about it for like six fucking seconds. I was like, you know, a dipshit. That's the first intelligent thing you've said all fucking semester. It's like, fuck you. I'm out of here. And I walked out of the whole fucking class. I'm out of fucking crazy.

And I never fucking forget the ride home. I was so fucking happy. I was like, I don't have to listen to this dumb fuck shit anymore. I'm going to show up to this fucking school. I'm to listen to these motherfuckers. I can go wherever the fuck I want to go and nobody can tell me what to do. And that was like a fucking defining moment. And that was when I was like in my twenties, man, that was, I was like 27, you know, as a fucking millionaire and I made the fucking money myself and I was stoked. I didn't have to listen to anybody's shit.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Money Mondays. I'm here with my co-host, the real Tarzan. Rawr!

We have a very special guest. This has been a dear friend of both of ours for many, many years. They have traveled the world together. We've done businesses together, have fun together, social media together, play poker together and everything between. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm round of applause to Mr. Dan Bilzerian. All right. So normally people do bios. I don't think we really need to do one here, but I still like to give your version. What's the two minute bio on Mr. Dan Bilzerian?

Oh man, I gotta get my own bio. I like it when somebody else brags about me. I can do it for you. I thought you were a hell of a hype man. No. Okay, so I can tell you guys. So about 15 years ago, I think we've known each other since 2008. Yeah, 2009. 2009. Yeah, when I was living in Panorama. Those are like the fucking... Yeah, the penthouse at Panorama Towers. So we started an online poker site. I had some fun there.

And social media started getting cracking in like 2010, 2011. All of a sudden you go from like 400,000 followers to a million followers. Then there was this fun one where you do like 30 Xboxes on the table and he said, tag a friend. And like 700,000 people tagged a friend. And he basically invented the tag a friend thing. And all of a sudden you've got like 4 million followers and then the rest was history. But along the way,

We've watched you play ultra high stakes poker. I mean, we're going to get into millions of dollars in poker side, invested in Bitcoin like a decade ago. There's so many interesting stories of Dan Bilzerian. And there's also a lot of mystery and mystique of everyone thinking like, how did he make this money? Where was it from poker? Was it from Bitcoin? Was it from cryptocurrencies, sponsorships, endorsement deals and Ignite? What's the thing? And so I feel like I perpetuated like a lot of it because I

The whole trust fund thing got me into so many games. I never really argued it. I almost leaned on it. Then when I got out of poker...

And I was like, yeah, like, you know, my trust fund never really like kicked into way later. You know, it's funny because like people didn't believe it. And then they kind of like it's funny. They like hated me for things that weren't true and then love me for stuff. But like what it was just like very strange. That's why I felt like I kind of had to write that book, you know, like set the record straight. And I still think people just like can't wrap their hands around that. I made a bunch of money fucking playing poker. Yes.

I would like to verify, by the way, I know the people he's beaten poker. So it's 100% and one zillion percent true because I have to hear the stories. People cry to me about it, talked about the hands and hey, Bilzerian had ace four. I can't believe he had that blah, blah, blah. And then lost $4 million to him in one night. It's true, guys. Yeah, man. I have all the wire transfers. You know what I mean? It's like, it's like,

I remember this one time on Instagram, you posted a 10.4 or $10.8 million wire transfer. It was amazing. Yeah, that wasn't even the biggest one. But like, you know, it's funny because I wasn't really like trying to brag about that at the time. You know, it was one of those things where like I wanted people to think that I sucked.

And so I would always like, you know, talk about the fucking losses. I would never really like focus on the wins. And then when I quit poker, I kind of like would tell people my story and they just wouldn't believe it. And I kind of like really wouldn't give a fuck because I also thought that I might go back in, you know, and I'd like been so used to like leaning on the whole thing that I

whatever fuck i really don't give a shit if people believe that i got my money from poker or not i honestly don't and honestly i wouldn't give a fuck where i got my money either like it all spends the same like i don't give a fuck i wish i got handed all the fucking money would have been a lot less fucking stress in my life probably have more fucking hair you know is there any in particular poker hand that stands out is there any like one major hand win or loss yeah for sure it was the biggest hand i ever played it was against andy beale and i or no sorry it was against alec gores and i totally fucked it up

I fucked it up so bad. I had Ace-4 of diamonds and he had... Well, I won't tell you what he had. So the board come, two diamonds...

We were playing 10K, 25K at the time, heads up. And I don't remember exactly how many bets we got in on the flop, but I think it was a raise, re-raise, or whatever, and then a call, or something like that. But it was like, there was at least three or four million bucks. I think it was like four million bucks at least in the turn comes the diamond, give me the nuts. And he led into me three million bucks. Wow.

I had like... Fuck. I had $18 million to start the hand. So... He let in to me three. And I really like... We had enough money where I just didn't want to give him a free card to pair the board. I thought he had a pretty big hand. He's not a big fucking fan of folding big hands. So I like...

re-raise them the minimum. But $3 million is $3 million. I'm just like, well, if I make it $6 million, I can ship the fucking river for sure. He can't fold for another $3 million. How is he going to fold in the river when there's $3 million, $3 million, $6 million, $12 million, plus $3 million? It's less than a pot-sized bet to ship the river. It just seemed like, what else am I going to raise? I didn't want him to fold. I didn't want him to draw for free.

I don't know. I guess, like, looking back, maybe I should have just called. I mean, if I would have just called, I would have got all the fucking money. I played it probably the worst possible way I could have played it. And he just fucking tanked. And that was another thing. He would ask me all these fucking questions. He would fucking ask, like, if he could take money back. It basically goes through this whole fucking thing. And you're like, in his house, you feel kind of like...

rude like not accommodate like just to ignore the guy when he's asking you questions but at the same time he's getting like tons of information off you for free right

It was just a weird spot, man. And anyways, I ended up just like going to the fucking bathroom after like 40 minutes of like his questions. I'm telling you, it was the longest hand I've ever fucking played in poker. And I probably like said some shit. I just wanted the hand to be over. Like I was just like, it was so much fucking money and I was winning a bunch of money at the time. I think I was up like, I don't even know. I mean, 518 in front of me. I had to be up. I don't remember. I was up a lot of money. The pot was already, you know, decent size, you know? So I was like, I was like,

I don't know looking back I should have wanted to get all the money you know but sometimes like when it's that much money you're like okay just taking down the pot right

I mean just the thought of like the board pairing and him sending it in you know like I don't know it would have been pretty brutal and then I would have lost the biggest hand of my life I mean that would have been a 36 million dollar hand oh my God you know so it's like to go from like winning to like you know what I mean like I just I don't know man I guess I was like playing like outside of my comfort zone because you should never really like

play based on emotion kind of you know what I mean like you should just do the right thing like and the money shouldn't matter like in I think Negroni said that the other day he was like basically like you know you should play where it's just chips you know and you're playing like in proportion to the blinds and this and that it's not like oh it's you know millions of dollars and actually like the time that he fucked me up

was when he started betting in things. He was like, oh, I bet a Ferrari and that was 300 grand or like, you know, I raise you a Learjet. And so I had to be like, you know, he wouldn't say like, and I was like, okay, well, how much is that? And then he would tell you how much it was, but like, you can't fucking get it out of your mind. Like he's betting a Learjet, you know? 10 seats or 14 seats? It was a Ferrari, it was a Bugatti and then a Learjet. That's how he did it. He had like three. That's a lot of money.

Yeah, so like when he did it and then he was also like flexing, his girl was there. But like all the other times I was just like mathematically beating him. I was just like firing. I was actually the one putting pressure on him, which is like very counterintuitive to like how you would think a billionaire would play. But he had been playing with Andy Beal

And the strategy against Beal was like, okay, I'm going to lose $4 million, I'm going to lose $3 million, but I'm going to clip the fucking guy for $50 million when he calls me. You know what I mean? When he just has top hair and I have a set and he can't win and I bring home a $50 million win. And so that's how he played Beal and it worked. So for me, it was like he was okay losing $8 million, $6 million, $10 million, thinking that he's just going to clip me for fucking all the money one of these times. Right.

which you know wasn't like out of the realm of possibility you know like fuck we're buying it for five million bucks or you know i got fucking 18 million bucks like one hand he could just fucking wipe me out um and we had some cooler hands you know like definitely like spots where if it was like switch like i could have just like gone like the hand fucking you know he played like he folded the second nut flush he had a king high flush he had a fucking king i'm not falling into

Sorry, bro. Like, I don't even, like, he's the only guy in the fucking universe that isn't just, like, trying to figure out how to get the money in the pot. Of course. Like, heads up, because I would have played a Jack-High Flesh the exact same way. I'm not folding a King-High Flesh to Dan Bilzerian. That's what I'm saying. Ever. Ever. I can't sleep at night. No, I can't do it. Fucking crazy. I love you. I can't do it. I'm not folding a King-High Flesh to you. I couldn't fucking believe it. You're going to have to show me. It was so fucking nuts.

but just goes to show like how bad I played the fucking hand. But also like one of the reasons why I was just able to fucking run this dude over. Like you don't, right. He's going to pull that. Yeah. Like you don't fold the second enough flush ever. It's like folding Kings preflop by a fucking guy heads up like with a hundred, 200 big ones. You just don't ever do it. Right. Like ever, ever, ever, especially like with the amount of aggression that I was showing. So I don't know, man, that was definitely one that I've lost sleep over for sure. Do you still like poker now? No, I don't.

I don't. I got to a point where the wins didn't bring me even close to the amount of happiness that the losses would give me misery. I would get pissed when I lost small amounts of money, even the money that was insignificant. I just didn't like to lose. And I don't know. Every game that we're playing, we're losing or you're playing for amounts where if you lose...

In the real world, it's significant money. In the poker game, it's not that much. Right. So...

I don't know. All right. So Tarzan and you have gone on some amazing trips around the planet. How do you decide what countries, what events, how do you pick the girls? Like, tell us about the story of how do you go make your travel plans? I mean, shit. He's like, you want to go here? Like, yeah, I went in like tomorrow. Fuck it. I'm there. That's how it went. You know? Yeah. No, he was good because like, you want a guy that can do shit with you. You know, like so many times when these trips just surrounded by bitches and it's like,

It's cool to get high and fuck chicks all day, but you also want to do cool shit. He was always pushing to do cool shit. We dove in the cenotes. We did cool shit in Thailand. We were fucking diving off the yacht. It was just more fun when there was guys. And I noticed that when we brought him out. It was a cool twist of the dynamic. Hanging out with the boys. It's a boys trip. Having fun, doing stupid shit.

I tell him, like, yo, don't go in there with a cobra. He goes in with a cobra. Meanwhile, he's, like, fucking bobbing and weaving. This thing's, like, striking at his face. It's like, yeah, so is there, like, any antidote? He's like, no, you'd die pretty much. The handler's like, yeah, no, you're pretty much, like, instantly dead. A nine-foot cobra bites you in the face. He's over there thinking he's fucking Manny Pacquiao. You got bit by that fucking alligator.

I got, yeah, I got bit. He brings this alligator to my house. I think it's like somewhat house trained. The fucking thing bites me in the leg. We were going to bring a snake today. No. No. I'm not fucking experiencing wildlife animals. Too much fun, man. Too much fun. All right. So we've all got to watch Ignite grow through the social media years from Halloween parties at the mansions to obviously trips with girls on yachts and private jets. Talk to us about the allure, like the concept of Ignite and why it's the most unique brand there is.

So basically it was like 2017. I had a girlfriend. I just started dating her, I think at the end of 16 and I had been going fucking hard in the paint, man. Honestly, I think like the years from, I don't know, 13, 14 to 16 were probably the crate, probably like from 13 to

16. Those, that three year period was probably the nuttiest. Cause it was kind of like all new to me. I just fucking won, you know, crazy money in poker. Um, I just started becoming famous and,

and the was just like coming at me from every direction because i was like i was running a poker game so we had all the poker chicks there's all the models those started doing the pool parties in la you remember that you know 300 girls and you have like 30 dudes there and i bring the masseuses and the you know like champagne you know the girls are just basically like having a blast laying out by the pool getting sun drinking champagne getting massages all this getting their nails done

and the guys were just like hanging out and these girls were you know but they'd get drunk and come over and like try and you know what i mean it was like one of these like predatory environments where like the girl the girls were the predators you know we were just chilling you know what i'm saying you got 300 drunk horny girls and they're just like you know the dick was like the scarcity it was like a very like we split the script on these girls you know like normally they're at the

bar and every fucking dude's like bird dogging them and this and that and it was just like at these pool parties like they weren't getting any attention nobody was fucking talking to them you know and this is like the baddest chick from fucking Maryland or whatever you know what I mean she's never been like ignored in her life you know so she's gotta like go talk to a guy to feel validated and so it's just like a very different dynamic and um

started doing that and like i said yeah between that the poker games and um the social media shit and the traveling and the just everything was just like fucking mayhem and i was partying more like

you know, I don't really get fucked up that much anymore. You know, like back then I was like, you know, we had Quaaludes, we're getting fucked up. And it was just like, there's just debauchery that would be going on. And also this was kind of like before all these girls had social media too. So like they really wanted to get famous and like, there was no real ways for them to get famous. And also like stuff wasn't, you know, I would post like maybe like 5% of the shit that would happen. Like there were like, it was so like, there wasn't as much being broadcast. There was no IG stories. You know what I'm saying? Like, so there was like,

know i wasn't really around with snapchat much so there was no i actually didn't think i had snapchat back then so there was like no like there wasn't like it wasn't being filmed you know yeah it was like so these girls get as crazy as they wanted to and like we had these like we had some of the girls you know like i don't know maybelline rosie there was like some wild ass girls that would get all the other girls amped up and and it was just a different environment right like there's no cameras nothing going on the girls just got like crazy

And, you know, also when you're getting fucked up, like shit, just crazier shit happens, you know, like as opposed to just like, fuck man, during the night days, I was mostly just like high all the time. Like I was still getting a ton of pussy, but like, I was just like,

I don't know. You just do crazier shit when you're fucked up. You know what I mean? You think to do crazy. Like, I mean, I fucked girls in like a public bathroom. I fucked a girl in a hotel lobby. Like just shit that you wouldn't do sober. You know what I mean? Like you don't think to do. Yeah. Like it's just fucking, you would try things and it was just work. You know, like I fucked a girl without saying a single word to her. Like, I don't know, just stuff that you wouldn't try sober. You just like, just like, Oh, the chick wants to fuck. We'll go fuck. But,

but you know when you're drunk you're up you're like oh like what kind of crazy what kind of crazy could i do you don't mean you start pushing the boundaries and i don't know man it was just you know it was wild time but anyways

like I said, that was the craziest time. And then 2016 ish, I got a girlfriend for like a year. Cause after you do that for a certain period of time, you need some kind of break. Right. So I took a break and, uh, and I kind of want to get back in it, but I also wanted to like figure out how to do something with this social media presence that I had. Like everybody was coming up to me, every fucking country, like I had no privacy. So I'm like, fuck man. If I'm like,

taking pictures of motherfuckers in the parking lot and fucking five years from now and I don't have anything to show for like I'm gonna be pissed right if I have all the inconvenience without the upside the only upside was like it was easier to get laid but aside from that like there wasn't any monetary upside there was just nothing else I figured like fuck it I'll build a brand um and then it also just like seemed like there was more of a purpose if you had a brand like

I don't know. Um, cause I was like getting tired of posting on social media. I like, wasn't going to do it for myself anymore. Like I'd already done it. I was kind of like over it, but I felt like for a brand, I would like lean into it more and I would be more excited about like building a brand than just like,

posting to show everybody like oh i got money and i'm getting like i was like i'd beat that drum enough i was done with it you know exactly yeah yeah i was off the put i was like it man so anyway so i started ignite in like 2018 um and it's funny man because it's like you know all these idiot articles come out like oh ignite funded his lifestyle it's like i was doing that for like seven years before i even started igniting 2009 you were doing it with

yeah like it's like these people are so stupid like i bought my jet in 2014 you mullets but anyways so we started ignite and like 18 and uh damn that's a long one mullet can we make that equipment yeah so like 2018 come around and and yeah we started night and uh it was just

I just knew that house in LA was the fucking spot. You know, like I saw it and I was just like, fuck, this is it. Like, if I'm going to do it, like, this is the spot to do it. And, um, I don't know, man, I didn't want to have, like, I was like a fucking, I'm gonna do it. Like we're going to fucking do it. So I raised, you know, it was like 30 or 40 million bucks to start, um,

And the funny thing is, like, all the money that I raised is all private money. It was like no fucking shareholders money. It was all like private fucking money from like friends that all knew exactly what the fucking plan was. And the plans fucking worked, you know. And so, yeah, we just started throwing fucking crazy parties, got the crazy house and just fucking leaned into it, man. It was a fucking crazy ass ride until COVID hit.

And then it was like, man, all our stuff got stuck in China. There was all these restrictions. It was like, man, COVID was a big pivot. We started like, we left the weed space. We went into vapes, which is something I wanted to do like long before, but we finally like got out of our fucking deal that we have with this, um, this vape manufacturer that couldn't do in the, it was the whole thing. But anyways, you got out of it pivoted.

got out of weed, went to vapes, um, tequila, vodka, yeah, tequila, vodka to the spirits. Um, and then I focused on my book. I was like locked in a fucking room for a year and a half doing the book. And then when I finally finished the book, I was like, went on a yacht for like three or four months, spent a couple months in Thailand, like really just had to just chill the fuck out to get another girlfriend. Um, and so, yeah, it was like,

the three years of ignite was just fucking man and party and then i got a girlfriend did the books it's kind of like it's been a roller coaster man it's almost like predictable it's like i'll go fucking balls the wall for three years then i'll get a girlfriend for like a year and then we'll fucking go back you know going hard in the paint and you know spend the ride so there's 23 million people that have a question for you when you have a girlfriend what happens with the other girls

I mean, historically, I've been pretty much just in my chick. I mean, we may do threesomes here and there, but...

i don't know i mean i usually get so tired of like dealing with the constant girls girls girls girls girls that i just get almost burnt out it's like if you ate snickers bars every day for three years you just kind of wouldn't want snickers for a little while and then you know after a year of not eating snickers you want more snickers again you know i don't know that's the way i kind of describe it

so it's true man I'm telling you any too much anything you want to fucking break yeah all right so we talked a little bit about ignite a little bit about poker now on the business side you guys went public you guys now have all these different different product lines how involved are you in ignite like this is something that you're gonna be doing for years like what's your plan with ignite

Well, you know, the vape space to me is like super interesting, right? Because I think there's first of all, I hate cigarettes. I've always fucking hated cigarettes. I feel like it's the healthiest alternative.

also you're not affecting anybody else around you right like when you vape like nobody else has to breathe that in if you're in a car with your kids you're not poisoning their lungs you still get your nicotine hit but you don't have all the carcinogens so to me it's just like a no-brainer for somebody that likes nicotine that doesn't want to die of cancer so you know i feel pretty good about it i mean i don't know and then the spirits the tequila is great you know vodka is good um

So it's good products. It's just been a slow road with the alcohol just because you got to... I mean, unless you just want to give away the fucking world to go with a big distributor like Southern and they take a big piece of it or whatever. If you want to do it kind of like the grassroots way like how Tito's did it and then you fucking still own your brand, it just takes time. So we've just been putting in the fucking time but really leaning on the vapes because that's, to me, I think the big opportunity. We can ship it all around the world. I mean, that's another big thing is like...

83% of my following is outside the fucking US. Right. So like I'm now able to sell to all them. We're with 70 fucking countries. You know, we're able to fucking sell vapes all around the world. It's got a good. Oh, is that my food? Thank God. Boom. Thank you. All right. Perfect. First and only guest allowed to eat a burger. This is probably not the best idea, but either way.

Okay. Thank you. All right. So, yeah, man, just been focused on the vapes a lot, really. I mean, that's kind of the, you know, the golden goose to me. And I think that's going to be the future. And I hopefully at some point, you know, be able to fucking sell that and, uh,

I don't know. Spend more time free diving in fucking Thailand. When you sell Ignite, will you do another company afterwards? I think I'm going to have to stay with it for a while. You know, I don't think I can just like sell it and leave because I'm just like too... You're in the face, obviously. Yeah, just like too involved, so...

Are vapes your number one skew? Yeah, for sure. It's not even close. They crush everything else. We did like a hundred and something million in sales last year in vapes. Damn. Yeah, it's definitely like unequivocally the best one. And it's got the best margins too. Yeah. I mean, and I can sell you way more fucking vapes. Like if you're the biggest alcoholic in the world, like how much fucking tequila can you drink a week? You know what I mean? Like you're not going to drink a bottle a day. You can smoke a vape a day. How many pulls do you get out of each vape?

So the industry is really moving to the higher puff counts. And so like the stuff that we're selling is like, I don't know, our big sellers, the 1500 initially, and now our 5000 is like outselling everything. - Wow, damn. - Yeah. - All right, while you take some bites of your food, I'm gonna ask Tarzan some questions. So Tarzan, you got over 200 million views last month. One video last week got 105 million views. - It's at like 115 million now. - Jesus. - It's just going.

So talk us through how does animal content, how did you build this up? How did you get so many zillions of views on your social media? Well, I mean, I just think being, like you said before, being authentic, you know, I have an eye for animal content too. There was a time in my life where I was just watching nothing but

animal content on TV animal Planet Discovery and there was a point in time where it changed it went from like real good documentation of wild animals and good descriptions until I started learning about animals more and then people would post like a Burmese python but they'd show a ball python and it would piss me off you know or they would like have a bald eagle and they would have like a red-tailed hawk screaming in the background you know and it was just like

I kind of stopped wanting to watch TV, you know? So when I got into social media, I was like, man, when I post stuff, I want to post stuff, one, first, real raw animal content first.

And then when I'm also in front of the camera, I want to give people real facts about animals and just be authentic about it, you know, and just engage with the audience. So, you know, I can sit there and spew on about 60 seconds about an animal, but you can't give a full description of some species in 60 seconds. So in these captions, I'm like, yo,

Go on Google and learn about this animal. Simple, you know, like Google this animal and give me some facts. I'll pin the top five comments or I'll comment back or follow back. So on and so forth. So just trying to figure out new engagement of people get interested in animals. And I also think I got a lot of followers because I'm black.

you know, not a lot of black people are in a fucking tree diving with sharks and getting bit by snakes, you know, and just actually being cool about it, educating about it, you know, having that entertainment, but also having education, you know? So, um,

Again, I have the eye for certain content like that video just we just talked about you know It's a it's a cassowary of the most dangerous bird on the planet You know making its call and I haven't seen that before online so I'm like yo exactly when my buddies I was in Australia and he she's like going down his camera roll and he's he every time I go travel I'm like yo show me some cool videos Yeah, and people start showing me shit and I'm like yo air drop me that you know and I see it They'll send me you know 30 videos, but that one I post it and

it's over with everybody posted it's 100 million views 200 million views just one video i'm like makes you feel good i feel like the algorithm likes you i think so too i think so too i've definitely noticed that it's funny i didn't know if he was kind of like you know the real deal or kind of like a little full of shit or whatever in thailand i remember he was like i'm gonna catch one of these fucking water monitors like you know okay dude

Go ahead, yeah, yeah. It was like six fucking foot long and like faster than a motherfucker. I'm like, yeah, okay. The fucking guy comes back. He's got this fucking thing by the tail. I'm like, come on. Come on. Like the snake thing. Like, I get it. Like, okay, we can fake that. But like, motherfucker caught a water monitor with his bare hands. Like, in the wild.

I'm a septic tank. Yeah, no shit. I'm a fucking shit tank. I remember that. Yo, remember we walked into that sea turtle rescue? Yeah. We just broke into a sea turtle rescue across the street. Yeah. Yeah.

Like walking around catching lizards and then this was this random building I'm like what's over here we hear the ocean and we walk and we just literally walk through I see turtle here, but he'll rehab center and we just like start picking up sea turtles and talking about Just random stuff like that, you know right now We're parked at your house in Las Vegas and he just showed me some of the turtles and tortoises that he brought That's how we met man. Honestly, I came to LA a long time ago and for my first time actually come in LA and

Jay, Live Ridge Media, he sends me a DM. He's like, bro, I don't shoot niggas, only bitches, but you, I'm going to shoot you when

When you come to LA, hit me up. So I'm like eating at Roscoe's. I post Roscoe's. He's like, yo, my place is right across the street. That's when I met you too. So I went over. I was like, I'm going to go meet up with him. I was going to leave, like go straight to the airport because I was leaving. And I was like, yeah, I got to hit Roscoe's for the first time ever. He's like, come over. So I sent the address. Like, yo, you're like literally less than a mile away. So I went over there. I met with Jay. Met you. And Jay's like, uh, um,

he goes yo one of my buddies wants some tortoises i'm like well you're talking to the tortoise guy like i got it i got what you need you know just let me know who you know who it is what he wants or make it happen so he facetimes dan dan was he was somewhere else in the country no i remember i first bought this house yeah yeah it was back in 18. yeah it was it was bro wild so dan he hops on facetime he's like yo up towards in you know i love tortoises blah blah blah i want i want some in my yard so i'm like say less bro he goes

When do you want it? Tomorrow. Today. So, you know, Dan took care of the flight and everything. I got over here.

And me and my uncle drove to Arizona, went to Home Depot, picked up tortoises in Arizona, drove them back in a minivan, built a little habitat for them in the back, you know, dug a hole. Six of these big 200-pound mugglers. Six. We pulled the seats out of the minivan. You know, we got buckets from Home Depot. I called my buddy up, Arizona Tortoise Compound. We got these, bro, massive tortoises. You see them. We have big ones at home. His are humongous. I mean, they've been sitting in this facility. There's like 1,000 tortoises there.

A thousand? A thousand. I was like, bro, I need the biggest tortoises for my buddy Dan. He's like, bro, I'll give you the biggest ones I got. I don't sell them, but take them. So we got them. We drove them back to Arizona the same day, turned around, came, put them in there. And then the cool thing about Dan was that I hadn't met him yet. So when we first got to the house, you guys don't know this, but...

He has tortoise statues everywhere. Have you seen it? Oh, yeah. And I'm like, yo, this motherfucker actually likes tortoises. Yeah. Like, you know, his whole Ignite logo is the goat. He's the goat. But this guy really loves tortoises. So Dan pulls up later on, like maybe a day or two later. This motherfucker comes out with tortoise shorts on. Like, yo, you can't write this shit in the book.

You know, so that's how we met, you know, and this is my first time back here. Five years now. Yeah. It was 2018. We did that. And one more question before he's finishing up this burger. So Dan Bilzerian calls you and says, hey, let's go to a foreign country with 16 girls. You get there. How do you keep the girls and Dan safe from the animals you're interacting with? What a time.

Been a few times. You know, that's my number one thing, you know, going with people in these different countries and doing crazy shit. You know, I have to keep everybody safe because at the end of the day, if someone does get hurt, it's going to be real hard on my mental knowing that, you know, I'm a professional and I let, even though we have to do entertainment and have our fun and, you know, fuck up the algorithm and make content.

I don't want anybody to get hurt, especially this guy. You know, you tell him, Dan, whatever you do, don't take the tape off that alligator's mouth. You know what Dan says? Take the tape off. Don't go in that pit with the cobra. He's fully intact with venom.

Dan Hopps in the pit you know so you gotta kinda like reverse psychology you know like yo go in the pit he's like I think I'm gonna stay up you know so take the tape off I'll keep the tape on you know so I think Sue Lynn got wrapped up by one of them Burmese bikers yeah bitter bitter wrapped her up crazy yeah she got lucky man it could've been

Could have been worse. - I saw that big ass and just couldn't help myself. - So recently you were with Logan Paul doing that whole Prime commercial thing and him and KSI and a snake, it looked like it bit you in the pants and then the other video bit you in the arm. Like, is that on purpose? Are you protecting it? Like how do you, how many times have you been bit by a snake? - I mean, I started getting bit when I was a kid. So I got my first snake at three turned in four and I begged my parents for it. I used to catch them outside. I said, get that snake out the house, throw him away. And,

Going back to Australia, and I've been bitten thousands of times leading up to this. - Thousands of times? - Thousands of times. There's a point in time where I worked at a reptile facility in Florida, and I worked in the snake room. And we had about 400 snakes in there, and I had to clean their habitats every day. And they were small snakes, but they would bite me every day. We'd get imports in, like a thousand snakes in, you know, 100 boxes.

or 10 boxes of 100 snakes in each box or whatever and I gotta go through and count any snakes so snakes are biting me non-stop so not that I'm immune to it but it's just like it's what you expect you know it's like a boxer I heard boxers after they get punched in a lot they just don't even blink you know like gets bitten by

venomous snakes like over and over and over again and then eventually kind of like gets immune to it yeah that's the thing yeah some guys are just like they build up a tolerance you know it has to come in small doses there's some guys that do it uh i was gonna bill haas back in the day from florida oh gee he used to get bit all the time and just like sweat it out walk it off we got it and um i was just recently in australia a couple guys they just get bit and they fucking you know drink a beer

Sweat it out on the couch. If they make it, they make it. Yeah, they're all good. Some guys go in a fucking coma. Some guys die immediately in 30 minutes. It just depends on your immune system. It's like a bee sting. You know, some guys get stung by a bee. They'll swell up with hives. Their throat will close up. Some guys get stung and they're like, ah, this shit's, you know, like, fuck the bee off and they're on the way.

you know all right Dan question crazy so on your social media you've shown me before your engagement on your Instagram stories as an example you have more views than you have followers is that because you have people that follow you that aren't allowed to follow you because they're not allowed to click follow but they actually follow you and they actually watch you but they can't actually watch you because their girlfriend or boyfriend get mad yeah no a lot of motherfuckers watching but pretending they're not watching yeah I mean you can see it with the yeah if you can't look and tell you you know

all right we got 31 million 42 million 46 million 51 million 41 million 50 million 50 million and you only have 33 million followers but you know stories are like six to nine six or ten 51 million look at this on the real world it's crazy dog on an account that has 33 million followers beyonce numbers we're more than beyonce yeah i compared them like i beat everybody yeah everybody pretty crazy but

I guess it makes sense. Like, a lot of those guys are putting out shit content. So, I don't really post a ton. I feel like even during my peak, I wasn't posting, like, a crazy amount. Yeah. I feel like it's better to post less. Just better stuff. Yeah, you go months without posting at times. Fuck, man. Well, yeah, a long time. I think people just get, like, addicted to the attention. Yeah. Where they just need, like...

that dope me and hit every time they pose and get the likes and this and that. But then it's like, fuck man, you get on this like treadmill where it's like, you just have to constantly like be one upping yourself and thinking about content, you know? Cause this shit doesn't just like happen. You know what I mean? Like you have to get like a camera guy has to be shooting it.

and like a lot of times we'll do badass just get no good shots of it because just because you do something cool with hot chicks doesn't mean you're going to get a usable shot you know there's so many people replicate you or try to be you and they don't get anywhere near the engagement obviously well but a lot of like they're doing like setup shots right so they'll be like oh let's get a bunch of girls and let's get a photo and it's like it just never works the same as when you just do it and just happen to get a picture or they're just shooting it and you know you get a shot because like if you set up a shot

girls are looking at the camera. It's just posy. It just doesn't like, yeah, like the internet just sees all that shit. Yeah. And so, I mean, fuck, he's been on vacations. Like I'm fucking the girls. You know what I mean? Like we're partying. It's like, shit's real. It's not like we're going down there for a goddamn photo shoot, you know? Like, so,

I don't know. I mean, it was just, you know, authentically captured fucking craziness. I mean, that's what happened. Then you put a bunch of fucking hot chicks and there's not fucking any dudes around, you know, like you're going to get laid. It's like, I don't know. I mean, we went to bad-ass places. We've got the biggest yachts, the fucking coolest villas. Like we're doing shit on a level that I don't know, like you couldn't really like one up. So I feel like after COVID, I kind of like get to a spot too, where I was like, fuck man, I had just done everything. I'd done everything on like such a high level that it was kind of like,

fuck, where do we go? You know? And so you ever become numb to it? Yeah. I just started going on like more couples trips and like, we're doing more yachts. We were doing more like trips to Thailand and shit like that. And it was funny, man. I was on a trip to Thailand and I had three girls with me. Um, and I just felt like I was like obligated to fuck these girls like each day. And if I didn't like want to get upset, you know what I mean? Like it was like,

i was like i just don't want to do this like i want to work out i want to free dive i want to hang with my friends i want to get high you know i want to have a chick to bang if i want to bang but like i don't want to have to feel like i have to three times a day every you know what i mean like and i just didn't want to deal with this i sent the two girls home and i was with the one and like you know

She was cool, but she wasn't some fucking rock star or anything. But I just had way more fun just being with one chick and hanging out with my buddies. I don't know. It just taught me a lesson that I'd already fucking learned because I wrote about it in the goddamn book, which was that I would rather spend time with my friends doing shit I want to do than just surrounded by a bunch of fucking girls all the time. But I was like a sex addict, man. And so like...

it's it's hard to like kick addictions and it was like you know i was like addicted to the dopamine

of having sex of you know doing all this shit you know gambling similar like a lot of these things that i was doing were fucking dopamine hit things you know yeah exactly like pleasure spikes over and over and over again it's like you know i talk about this like you know you keep blasting the pleasure spike and eventually you have to do more to get the same you know hit and then eventually you have to just do it to not feel like shit because you're numb to it and that's where i'd get like at the end of those three year fucking runs like i was numb to all of it

You know, and I just like, I didn't care. Like, I don't know. I just felt like I had to fuck like two, three girls a day to not feel like a fucking, you know, like I was like being a fucking loser. You know, it's like, come on, man. Like, it's a fucking pussy today. What are you doing? And I don't know. It was like, that was like, I don't know. It's something about like having sex with a hot girl, like always gives you something like, you know, eventually you don't feel much, but you feel a little bit. And so, yeah, I just get in these cycles where I would just be getting high and having sex all the time. And it just wasn't nearly as fun as going out and,

do a muay thai free diving lifting weights your buddies hanging out you know doing like that being on yachts going to different places and so i don't know i just kicked the circus and every now and then i'd i'd need it you know it's kind of like okay a little bit yeah you had a little bit of a low let's make this bar yeah let's go exactly like i feel like a snickers bar but not like three years straight of it you know balls the wall there's a lot

So on the turning point, when you mentioned like 2015, 16, 17, 18, you start to get really famous, like can't walk down the street famous and security guards. How did you deal with people like understanding who was your friends, who was trying to use you or Ignite or the people around you? Like when did it kick in? You're like, wow, I really got to like protect my circle. Um,

Well, I've never really had like a ton of like people that I consider friends. I had a lot of acquaintances. And usually the way I'd handle it was like in LA, if somebody couldn't do something for me, then I just wouldn't hang out with them. It was very like, kind of like, how do you call that? Transactional. Yeah. Transactional relationship. Yeah. Where it was like, I know they're like coming to me cause I have good parties. I'm around a bunch of chicks or whatever. So it's like, if they're not offering me value, I don't even want to fucking like hear them out. And so, um,

i would have my friends i had from like a long time ago or people that i do with and um and then you know other celebrities who also had fame and money and didn't need for me so you just hang with people that like either didn't need stuff from you or could provide value and then you didn't mind them you know having a transactional relationship i just assumed that everybody in l.a was like you know coming with their handout because most of them were so um i hated a life i was happy to get the out of there i never really like made any like

real great friendships there I mean I have a lot of like acquaintances and people that I respect and you know a lot of celebrities that you know I'm cool with but not people that I'm like super tight with that I like have history with you know so why'd you spend so much time energy and effort on the book you spent a you said a year and a half on that book why why why'd you dive so deep into that yeah it was really like a disproportionate amount of effort um

I just wanted to do it right. And I'm one of those people where, like, if I'm going to do something, like, I really want to fucking do it right. And I wanted to tell the story. And it's, fuck, man, every fucking time I finish an edit, I really thought that I was done. Or I thought that, yeah, I was just, like, close. And I just wasn't. And so 37 edits later, I finally, like...

came up with something and it was just funny because like people were like yeah you know i'd be like okay i'm finally because i finished an edit be like okay i'm finally fucking done and then i would like reread the edit and then i'd find things to start tweaking with it and start tinkering with it and fucking around and sometimes i'd do it when i was a little bit tired i'd make it worse and then i'd go back it was just like this whole like mind-numbing process but the good the good thing of it was the upshot was that it forced me to kind of like look at my life

And look at it objectively. Like the things that made me happy. The things that didn't make me happy. And I guess like unless you write a book or do mushrooms or fucking acid or something. You don't really spend that much. I mean maybe if you're like with a therapist or something. But I don't have a fucking therapist. You don't really spend a lot of time like reflecting back. Yeah.

You're so focused on moving forward and doing this or your business or some chick you want to fuck or some place you want to go. Whatever it is, the future captivates your attention much more than the past. And so the book was...

kind of like just forced me to look at the past. And I think that's beneficial. I think it's helpful. Like if you don't learn from your mistakes, then you know, you're bound to repeat them. Right. So I think it was probably one of the better things that I did for my fucking like soul. Um, but it just took a lot of time because I wanted to get it right. That's the fucking short answer of it. So speaking of your soul, the concept of the money Mondays is we talked about how to make money, how to invest money and how to give it away to charity. Um,

You have done a lot of charity things, but you never talk about it, you never post about it. One of the things that was really interesting, the one time you did post was you were saying, "I'm gonna give out $10,000 to 10 different families by submitting your story." I don't remember the number, it was some ridiculous 200,000 comments or something insane of people tagging and putting their stories in and you went and you donated way more than the 10k each, the 100,000 you promised, you donated way more. I'm not gonna say the number because you never talk about it, but like

you do charity in the background is it something that's passionate to you and why don't you ever like to talk about it I just feel like it takes away from it like you're gonna do something fucking do it you don't tell everybody you're fucking doing it I mean like I don't know like I had a lot of friends that like find a charity or then try and get all their friends to give the money to I was just like no I'll just do it myself or I call buddy and be like hey I'm gonna put a hundred thousand in this you want to match it and then be like sure and then we'd do it and wouldn't tell anybody feels better like that like I don't know

I just think it cheapens it like by broadcasting it. And I feel like there's so many people that do it to be seen doing it. And I guess like the reason that I do it is just as selfish as that. I mean, I do it because it makes me feel good. Sure. Not necessarily. I mean, like, yeah, I want to help people, but it makes me feel good to see that person like being happy. Like I've given a bunch of money to like charity organizations and I don't get nearly as much happiness out of that as like giving it directly to the person. So I think where I kind of like

moved to was like directly giving it to the people like handing them fucking cash or you know wiring it directly to them or spending time with the kids or taking the kids out shooting machine guns and fucking blowing up dynamite and fucking off-road racing and surfing and shit like that you know yeah so

The other reason for the Money Mondays is we all grew up thinking it's rude to talk about money. You're the most blunt friend that I have because you're very blunt about talking about relationships, sex, business, money, and everything between. Why do you think people are scared to talk about money? Why do you think it's rude to talk about money? Because they don't fucking have any. Like so many people like actually get all this fucking money, but they don't. I don't know. Like I feel like a lot of it is just like facade is bullshit. I mean.

I don't know. Money is, it's a tool. I mean, that's what it is. A fucking tool. And so, like, you shouldn't be shy about it. Like, if you have it, fucking spend it. You know, like a lot of people have a bunch of money and they don't use it to improve their life. Like, I've always been good about like using my money to improve my life. Like,

i got a bunch of fucking chefs i have a bunch of assistants i have fucking pilots i got a plane like i got shit you know like people do stuff like if i need something done like shit gets done like i haven't gone got groceries in fucking 10 years like i don't know like i just don't waste time doing stuff that i don't want to do like if i want to go play paintball i have a paintball fucking tournament paintball field in my backyard it'll be set up all fucking eight referees all the guns will be fucking lined up we walk out we play and we fucking leave you know i don't

we don't wash the uniforms and fucking go buy paint. We don't do any of that shit. We show up, we fucking play and we leave. And so it's like use money as a tool, like save fucking time. And my dad taught me this when I was younger, like figure out what your time is worth. Like my dad, when I was fucking young, his time was, he was making $10,000 an hour. So my mom, like,

She was giving me shit about not making my bed. I was like, well, dad doesn't make his bed. And my mom was like, well, honey, why don't you make your bed and be a good example? And my dad was like, snapback. He's like, I make $10,000 an hour. I made $25 an hour to clean this fucking house. You want me to pay $975 to go show him how to make a bed? No, I'm not going to do that. It's like, this is the wrong answer probably for a fucking kid.

But it was funny because like, it does like teach you like time value money. It's like, what is your time worth? And it's like, if you're making $10,000 an hour, you should just never do anything, you know, that you don't want to do unless you're making over $10,000 an hour. You shouldn't fucking change your tires. You didn't change your fucking, you know, oil. You shouldn't mow your fucking lawn. Like, unless you enjoy doing that and it brings you satisfaction, then sure. Fucking go do it. But like,

just i don't know just spend the time with your family spend the time traveling spend the time working out spend the time bettering yourself like you know teaching your kids something i don't know whatever the fuck it is that you want to do other than like i don't know i don't derive any pleasure out of mowing a fucking lawn or like washing clothes or making a bed like i don't know like i just don't want to fucking do that so i don't do it and it's to me it's a big waste of time like but if you don't make much money then fucking do it like i don't know you know it's just like

It seems simple to me, outsource. And another thing is like people just always want to like, oh, I'll do a job that I'm passionate about and I want to do something that I like. It's like,

just fucking make the most amount of money in the least amount of time possible and spend your time doing what the fuck you want to do like i didn't give a shit about like what i was doing i would have fucking shoveled shit if it paid enough money like i didn't care like i like a job is not about fucking having fun like if you can find a job that you enjoy like great hats off to you but chances are there's a job that you'll make more money and less fucking time doing it and i think i'm like

so many lifetimes because I haven't fucking done a nine to five. Like if you look at how much fucking time a nine to five job waste, if you calculate in like transit going to and from work and those are all hours, you're most of the fucking population is doing some shit that they don't want to do. I mean, even if it's something they like to do, like let's say you're really into scuba diving and so you decide to be a fucking scuba instructor.

Eventually, you're going to get tired of teaching people how to fucking put on a rig and do the same thing over and over and over and over again. It's going to be fun for maybe like a month or two months or maybe a fucking year. But eventually, you're going to get tired of doing the same goddamn thing over and over and over and over again. And so to me, it's like...

If you're going to be doing something that you don't want to do, just make sure you're making the most amount of fucking money doing it. Make sure it's something that you can scale. Make sure it's something that like eventually you have like a long-term exit or you, you know, you could franchise the business or you can pay somebody else to run it, you know, whatever. But there's like an exit, you know, like so many people get like caught up in these jobs where they can't ever fucking leave and they're never going to have a home run. They're never going to have, you know, success to the point where it gives them freedom. And you know, life's not about fucking money. Like the most,

most of the things that i like to do don't require money like i don't need a lot of money to be happy i know that for a fact and in fact like some of the miserables times in my life were when i had the most money and sometimes when i were the happiest was the time when i had the least amount of money so like it is absolutely not correlated to happiness what it is correlated to is freedom and the ability to do what the you want to do not listen to anybody's and like during this coveted scam like there's a perfect example i never wore a mask but like maybe three times like

everybody's like oh you have to wear a mask to travel it's like i own a jet motherfucker i don't wear a fucking mask on my fucking plane suck my dick like you know and i didn't fucking do all this bullshit i was not running around like a fucking sheep observing all these stupid fucking rules that were just complete fucking waste of time now that we look back like you know so i don't know man like it was nice for me like i was on a fucking yacht for three months like

I was fucking traveling the world. Everybody else was locked in their fucking basement. I was working out every motherfucking day at an outdoor gym. I was getting the sun every day. I was healthy as a fucking horse. Never got sick. Like, but that's because I had money. Like if I didn't have money and I lived in fucking New York, I'd probably have been fucking pretty miserable during that time. You know, like fucking, I don't know, man. So,

I guess at the end of the day, like it's nice. It's not like a, something that you have to have, like figure out shit that you like to do. Like I said, most of the stuff I like to do doesn't require fucking money. The reason I like money is because it allows me to tell people to fuck off. Right. And that's the biggest thing for me is not having to listen to other people's fucking bullshit. Since I was a little kid, I never want to listen to people's fucking shit. I think one of the,

best most defining moments of my life when i told my professor to go fuck himself and i left class i was like maybe the highlight of my entire fucking life not fucking 10 models not any of that shit but telling him to get fucked because i made four hundred thousand dollars that month playing poker and i was not in the mood to hear his shit and i fucking told him that i said motherfucker i made more money last week than you'll make in the next three fucking years so talk to me with some fucking respect and we had it out like and i was fucking right

And the thing that he said to me, the thing that he fucking said to me that really stuck out was, ah, if you're so fucking rich, what are you doing in college? And you know what? I thought about it for like six fucking seconds. I was like, you know what, dipshit? That's the first intelligent thing you've said all fucking semester. It's like, fuck you. I'm out of here. And I walked out. The whole fucking class went fucking crazy.

And I never fucking forget the ride home. I was so fucking happy. I was like, I don't have to listen to this dumb fuck shit anymore. I'm going to show up to this fucking school. I'm going to listen to these motherfuckers. I can go wherever the fuck I want to go and nobody can tell me what to do. And that was like a fucking defining moment. And that was when I was like in my 20s, man. I was like 27.

You know, I was a fucking millionaire and I made the fucking money myself and I was stoked. I didn't have to listen to anybody's shit. And I was very fucking happy and I'll never forget it.

All right. Well, I could talk to you for hours and hours and hours, obviously. One final question. We like to keep these episodes to 40 minutes, so it's easy. The reason it's 40 minutes, by the way, is because the average workout is 45 minutes and the average commute is 45 minutes. So we do ours for 40 minutes. So Dan Bilzerian, last question. It's 2023. People are seeing a lot of crap in the media. They're worried about recessions. They're worried about fake COVID and all these different things between them. What can people do to stay calm in the chaos?

ice baths, workout, like get sun every day. Just the basic shit. Honestly, like it isn't anything crazy. Like if you work out five, six days a week, do ice baths when you wake up in the morning before you go to bed, get sun every day, like you will be significantly happier. And none of that shit costs anything. You know, anybody can fucking do that.

So, amen. - Ladies and gentlemen, you've just watched Dan Bilzerian, my co-host, The Real Tarzan here on the Money Mondays. We wanna make it not rude to talk about money. So it's really important for you. Share this with your friends, share this with your followers, get people to talk about money in your side of your circles. Make sure to follow Dan Bilzerian, you probably already do. Make sure to follow The Real Tarzan and we will talk to you guys soon. Hopefully we'll get Dan back here later this year.