15 September,2019 07:45 AM IST | Mumbai | Aastha Atray Banan
Dan Blizerian
"You're a legend," gushes a young boy to poker player and Instagram influencer Dan Bilzerian at a press conference organised at Lower Parel's The A-Club last week. "You are so inspirational and so consistent, and I am a big, big fan. How do you do it? And Dan answers with a word he's used several times through our s-e-v-e-n-minute interaction earlier: authenticity. "That's the key," he says.
Dressed in a pair of orange shorts and white t-shirt and constantly biting on a toothpick, Bilzerian gives you the impression that he doesn't take himself very seriously. Which is surprising as his team requests us to not ask him about how his Instagram objectifies women.
Bilzerian, with 42 million followers on Instagram, is one of the 30 most powerful people on the platform. His feed is filled with pictures of women in various states of undress. It's a flamboyant lifestyle at which some would cringe. But Bilzerian remains unabashed.
A young man, who we overhear saying he's writing a show in which a character is a poker player, asks: "What are the characteristics you think a man of 2019 needs to possess?" Bilzerian responds confidently: "Stop apologising about everything, don't try and fit into a politically correct box. These days people are scared all the time. Just do your own thing."
Blizerian is in India to announce his association with LivePools, co-founded by serial entrepreneurs Gaurav and Vickram Assomull and with actor Dino Morea among its key investors. The site is home to a skill-based sports predictor game platform, across cricket, football and kabaddi. Think fantasy gaming, where 20 dollars could get you 20,000 dollars - basically a fun way to gamble with low risk.
He is also looking for investors for his male grooming line called Alister, which, hang on to your seats, adds pheromones to the products so that men can attract women through their scent.
"Women have so many advantages. They have fake tans, and high heels, and fake eye lashes; men not so much," he says. "This is like going back to the wild; this is what animals release to attract an individual of the opposite sex, encourage them to mate with them. This hasn't been done before, so it's exciting."
As for his own relationships, Bilzerian says: "I've been in monogamous relationships and in open relationships. (But) I'm single. I am friends with every girl I've dated. (And) my philosophy on women and dating is that it has to be about honesty. As long as you are upfront, there are no issues later. It's people who date multiple girls and lie to them and get caught; it's those people who end up with animosity."
Even so, the flashy lifestyle has come at a price. Bilzerian, 38, survived two heart attacks when he was 25 that came from "thinking I was bullet proof, and too much partying and bad decisions." Today, he eats clean and trains dirty. Not that you'd catch him putting pictures of his last meal on Instagram because, as he says, it's only the really great highlights that should make it there.
"You won't see the boring stuff like working out either! But it's the way I live my life - all that you see is true. Social media is a tough and new world. There are negatives but also many positives. It gives you a voice and lets you tell your story and takes the power away from the (mainstream) media."
You may not agree with his life choices, and may have mixed feelings with the way he portrays the women in his life, but even his fiercest critics will agree that he's living life on his own terms and making it work for him. Another young man at the press conference asks, after all that he has accomplished, what does he still want to achieve? "Travel to Africa," Bilzerian says, "And become the president of the United States of America."
We wish him luck.
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