09:27
11 Feb
Image courtesy of PokerGO.com
Jared Bleznick is offering $1million in cash to the person who can provide him with the LeBron James triple logoman basketball card – a unique sportscard that Bleznick believes will be worth many $millions in years to come.
The former poker pro’s passion for sportscards led him to buy Legacy Sports Cards along with business partner and fellow highstakes poker player, Tom Marchese, in 2019.
Bleznick’s Insta video reveals that he is on the hunt for the Lebron basketball card – the only one of its kind in the world – and he believes it’s worth “7 figures.”
“Yours truly, the backer, is paying $1 million in cash,” says Bleznick, and the hunt is well and truly on for the card that depicts LeBron James in triple format – wearing the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, and LA Lakers shirts that span his NBA career.
To cash in on the $million offer, however, you’ll first have to find the one-of-a-kind card, and it exists only in a 2020-2021 Panini Flawless basketball box.
Just a week ago these boxes were selling for $10,000, but news of Bleznick’s bounty, and others that are apparently offering much more, has sent the price up above $15k.
If you’re not a sports memorabilia collector or fan, you’ll probably be surprised to know that it’s nowhere near the maximum ever paid for a collectible basketball card.
That title apparently belongs to the signed Luka Doncic card, which sold for $4.6million and is highlighted in Bleznick’s Insta vid. It sold last year and came from a box of 2018-19 Panini National Treasures Basketball trading cards.
JUST IN: Collector Nick Fiorello has purchased this Luka Doncic 1/1 for $4.6 million. pic.twitter.com/BziiWTrdfC
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) February 28, 2021
It was initially sold for $400k, which shows the potential investment value and explains the $1million bounty placed on Lebron’s head by Bleznick.
A 1909 Honus Wagner T206 baseball card, sold last August for $6.6 million, holds the overall record for a sports card.
Poker players are apparently very serious about their sportscards collecting, with Bleznick and Marchese setting up a Legacy Sports Cards booth at least year’s WSOP.
If his estimate of the future value of the LeBron card is correct, however, somebody may well need to take down the Main Event to afford it.
That is unlikely to be Jared Bleznick himself, the chances of winning the Main Event probably on a par with finding the LeBron James card in your CocoPops.
Although Bleznick still plays poker, and indeed won a US Poker Open title last summer, along with several cashes at the 2021 WSOP, he regularly claims to have lost his passion for the game.
Many poker fans will remember him for the ban he received at the 2016 WSOP (in which he placed 16th in the ME) for ripping up cards in a PLO event. The ban was subsequently overturned after Phil Hellmuth used his influence to persuade officials to give Bleznick another chance.
Did you like this article?
Tweet
+0
