Poker Pro Among Those Arrested in Michael Phelps Bong Case

Written by:
Ace King
Published on:
Feb/16/2009

Olympic gold medalist swimmer, Michael Phelps, may have gotten off easy following the now infamous "bong smoking" photo.  He just lost a precious endorsement deal with Kellogg but others who were present that night weren't so lucky.

Gambling911.com special contributor and proprietor of PokerHelper.com, Thomas Somach, reveals that one of those arrested in connection with the incident was none other than professional poker player, Zachery "Carter" Smith. 

Somach reports:

The embarassing cell-phone photo of Phelps was published in News of the World, a weekly British newspaper, last month.

Officers from the Richland County Sheriff's Department in South Carolina raided the house where the party was held, found a small quanitity of marijuana and arrested six people there on drug charges.

Two others were arrested later in a nearby city and also charged with drug offenses.

One of the eight arrested was originally described by media as a professional poker player and a friend of wannabe poker pro Phelps, but was not immediately identified.

Media have now identified the poker pro and Phleps bud as Zachary "Carter" King, who earned over a million dollars last year by winning an online poker tournament.

Michael Phelps himself is no stranger to the poker circuit.  Poker icon, Doyle Brunson, gave him a few lessons last summer during a trip to Vegas, where Phelps was later photographed with strippers.

Brunson tried to keep him out of trouble.

He had this to say about the incident:  "It's too bad, he is a nice kid but he has to realize his every move is scrutinized and he can't make mistakes like that."

You can check out Doyle Brunson's online poker room at Doylesroom.com

Ace King, Gambling911.com 

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