Akshay looses 5000 pounds to Riteish

Akshay Kumar loves a good gamble, which is why he always hits casinos on his holidays abroad. The Khiladi is known to be quite the player. But last week, the Khiladi lost to Riteish Deshmukh while playing at a casino in London, where the duo is shooting for Housefull.

Says a source from the unit of Housefull, "It's been like a huge picnic for the entire cast of this Sajid Khan film. There would be masti on the sets while working, and later Akshay, Riteish, Arjun (Rampal), Randhir(Kapoor), Boman Irani and the two Sajids would all sit around in a group and play cards. The bets were small — one to two pounds. Akshay, Nadiadwala and Khan are very aggressive and are excellent players while Riteish is more casual. Come lunchtime, the sets would resemble a mini-casino."

Continues the source, "In the evenings, however, things got more serious. Everyone, barring Lara and Deepika) would have dinner and later, head to a Park Lane casino. Here, the stakes were much higher and they were joined by Akshay and Nadiadwala's wives — Twinkle and Wardha."
Adds the insider, "At the casino, all of them would play a couple of hands of poker. At one such game, Riteish beat Sajid Nadiadwala, Akshay, Sajid Khan, and Wardha. Riteish won more than 5000 pounds (over Rs 4 lakh).

"The funny thing was Riteish and Nadiadwala are not too fond of casinos and Ritiesh is not a regular player. Though Akshay was shocked. He took his defeat in good humour and very graciously — like a sportsman. He even ribbed Riteish about his good luck and quizzing him since when he became such a good player," notes the source Currently, the Housefull unit has shifted to Bari, Italy.