Online poker pro Dusty Schmidt, who plays under the screen name “Leatherass”, has decided to drop his lawsuit against the Unites States Golf Association. After having meetings with several lawyers, Schmidt decided that his case wasn’t strong enough to hold up in court.
Schmidt’s lawsuit was raised because the USGA revoked his amateur golfing status after he issued a $1 million golf/poker challenge on his website. The challenge was issued to anybody in the golf or poker world who thought that they could defeat Dusty over the course of 72 holes of golf and 10 heads-up poker matches. Unfortunately for Schmidt, nobody took him up on the challenge, and the USGA revoked his amateur status after hearing of his challenge.
Dusty Schmidt was surprised that the USGA repealed his amateur status since he said they initially only threatened to take it away if he actually went through with the contest. So Schmidt went ahead and issued the challenge while waiting to see if there would be any takers. But the United States Golf Association eventually changed its mind and said that Schmidt would lose his amateur status despite their initial ruling.
This is the second time that Schmidt has lost his amateur status over the course of his golfing career. The first time he lost amateur status was when he suffered a heart attack at the age of 23. While recovering from his heart attack, Schmidt began playing online poker heavily and eventually became a top player. Dusty admits to making well over $3 million in his online poker career, and even cashed for over $100,000 during his best months.
After a full recovery from his heart attack, Schmidt reapplied for his amateur status and had it granted by the USGA. However, after the controversy arose from his $1 million challenge Schmidt once again lost his amateur billing.
