Exactly. $500k does not buy you much yacht, at least not amongst those with whom Abramovitch rubs shoulders.

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“The Russian newspaper said his poker habit had become a sore point between him and girlfriend Daria Zhukova and that the billionaire, who made his fortune in Russia’s sell-off of state assets in the 1990s, had instead turned to gambling online.”

That is kind of depressing.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has denied reports he lost one of his fleet of yachts in a high stakes poker game.

“The story is absolutely, completely, entirely false,” Abramovich spokesman John Mann said after three Russian daily newspapers published versions of the story that originated in the Italian press.

The popular daily Moskovsky Komsomelets said the oligarch lost the $US500,000 yacht while playing poker in Barcelona, which he was visiting to watch Chelsea in action last week.

Two other mass-circulation Russian dailies, Izvestia and Trud, also published the story, citing the Italian newspaper La Repubblica as the source of the information.

Mr Mann said Mr Abramovich had not been in Barcelona for the Chelsea match and asserted that the entire story was a fabrication.

“We have instructed our lawyers to examine legal action over publication of the story,” he said.

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