A deal's a deal: Streamer Mark Rubbathan gets a Phil Nagy tattoo

Mo Afdhal
Posted on: September 18, 2024 09:21 PDT

Back in 2023, ACR Poker Team Online member Mark Rubbathan won a Triton package worth $110,000. Before making the trip to Vietnam for the tour's next stop, Rubbathan made a deal with his stream viewers: if he won a tournament at Triton, he would get a tattoo of ACR Poker CEO Phil Nagy's face.

If you're wondering why anyone would commit to such a heinous idea, keep in mind that Nagy, as Rubbathan's boss, essentially subsidized his tournament entries via the package. As a means of expressing his gratitude, Rubbathan promised to permanently alter his body with a flattering portrait of the CEO. 

The initial idea may have been said purely in jest, the kind of throwaway claim most often heard on drunken nights out or in the clutch moments of sporting events, but when Rubbathan took down the $20,000 Mystery Bounty event there may have been a few people wondering if the streamer would live up to his word. 

Despite Nagy himself letting Rubbathan off the hook in the immediate aftermath of the tournament, the Brit remained determined to stick to his end of the bargain. With more than a year gone by, Rubbathan could probably have banked on everybody forgetting about the deal and simply continued to live his life free of a permanently-inked portrait of his boss, but... where's the fun in that?

On Wednesday, Rubbathan posted to X/Twitter to inform the masses calling for his Nagy-ink to at last break ground that today was the day. Unsurprisingly, he included a link to his Twitch livestream - aptly titled, "GETTING A PHIL NAGY TATTOO" - for viewers to watch along as the ink settled in his leg. 

As he sat patiently waiting for the end of the portrait-rendering session, Rubbathan told his tattoo artist, "On one hand it’s a really good portrait, and on the other hand it’s the face of some random dude on my leg."

Well, yeah. That's what you signed up for, my friend! Now, we're not saying Rubbathan will definitely come to regret this decision to follow through on an irrational promise, but there's just no way you can wake up every day pleased to have Nagy's face on your leg. Plus, how many times can Rubbathan tell the story of the tattoo's genesis before he grows exhausted of his own backstory? 

Rubbathan's leg mid-inking Rubbathan's leg, mid-inking.