Michael Jordan Had Mastered Sudoku For A Simple $500 Bet With His Business Manager

The lengths of Michael Jordan’s competitive nature know no bounds. He carried the will to win, no matter the situation. This would extend to the point of mastering sudoku for a measly $500 bet with his business manager, Estee Portnoy. Jordan was hard-wired to be the best at everything.

In the story ‘Michael Jordan Has Not Left The Building’ written by Wright Thompson for ESPN, he highlights the extent of Jordan’s competitive nature.

“He’s in the middle of an epic game of Bejeweled on his iPad, and he’s moved past level 100, where he won the title Bejeweled Demigod. He mastered sudoku and won $500 beating [business manager Estee] Portnoy at it. In the Bahamas, he sent someone down to the Atlantis hotel’s gift shop to buy a book of word-search puzzles,” Tompson explained.

On the basketball court as well, no one matched the competitive fire that Jordan exuded. He was undefeated in the NBA Finals, while never allowing a Finals series to reach a Game 7. So famed was the 6x champ’s need to win, that he even offered Thompson a quote for his article.

“I can’t help myself. It’s an addiction. You ask for this special power to achieve these heights, and now you got it and you want to give it back, but you can’t. If I could, then I could breathe,” said Jordan.

The only outlet Jordan had to express himself was through winning. However, Jordan’s notoriously competitive nature landed him in hot waters off the court. On multiple occasions, the six-time NBA champion was called out on his excessive gambling.

In case he wasn’t able to find success on the court, as was the case in his early Chicago days, MJ would turn to the casinos. Following the Bulls’ first-round exit to the Celtics in 1987, which marked back-to-back years of Chicago being swept by Boston, Jordan immediately turned to gambling to find some form of victory.

Jordan while gambling, right after getting swept in back-to-back years by the Celtics:

“This is fun!… We just lost to the Boston Celtics, but guess what? I'm winning!"

What would media do to LeBron if he did this? pic.twitter.com/62NYTVy2mx

— Sports Central (@CarmeloJreal) January 9, 2024

His mindset to win made him widely recognized as the greatest basketball player ever but turned him into a known gambler as well. However, Jordan never viewed it as a gambling addiction, but rather a hobby during his free time.

Michael Jordan really had a gambling problem pic.twitter.com/El5ZzPxudG

— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) July 18, 2024

Jordan was a proven winner in everything he did and it was no secret. Even if it meant winning a $500 bet in sudoku, Jordan made sure he was the one to prevail.