When you’re as ballin as Phil Ivey, winning hundreds of thousands of dollars playing some of the biggest cash games in the world is just another mundane day at the office. So how do you pass the time in your ho-hum life in between quarter million dollar hands and casino buffets? Prop bets.
Prop bets and the poker community go hand in hand. From the golf course to feats of strength to the criminally insane, these bets feed a gambler’s compulsive appetite for always needing something to be on the line.
For anyone that missed last night’s episode of High Stakes Poker, what is arguably the largest prop bet ever made took place between Ivey and fellow high stakes pro Tom “durrr” Dwan. Dwan bet Ivey $1 million that he couldn’t give up eating meat for a year. At a price that takes some people a lifetime of hard, honest work to make, Ivey has to refrain from chicken, fish, beef, and pork. That MBFN. Dwan–get in touch with me and I’ll do it for $100,000. Let me know. TTYL!
For a better look into Ivey’s lifestyle, disregard for money, and his fearless ability to place anything and everything on the line, ESPN took an incredibly enthralling and intimate look here.
As for prop bets, the game of poker has had a long laundry list of famous pros, stupid bets, and irreparable regrets. Below are some of the most notorious:
- Gavin Smith, Jeff Madsen and Joe Sebok recently had a three-way last longer bet during the main event of the L.A. Poker Classic. Sebok, first to be eliminated, now has to get tattoos of both Smith and Madsen on his body. Madsen was next to go and only has to defile his body with Smith’s face. Only…
- Howard Lederer, a vegan, was bet $10,000 by David Grey that he wouldn’t eat a cheeseburger. The melted goodness on top wasn’t the only cheddar Howard got his hands on that day. He immediately let go of the tree he was hugging and chowed down on the beef patty, walking away with some easy money.
- Easily the most infamous prop bet ever involves high stakes gambler Brian Zembic. A friend of Brian’s bet him $100,000 that he wouldn’t get breast implants and keep them for a year. Defying all laws of nature and manhood, Zembic went through with the procedure, paying for the surgery that replaced his dignity with 38Cs. He remains a walking one-man circus sideshow, getting $10,000 a year for the life of his money making chest.
Some of you may remember Jeff Madsen’s breakout onto the poker scene in 2006. His first year in the series at the ripe age of 21, he had an unprecedented four top three finishes: third in the $2000 Omaha high-low split, third in the $1000 Seven-card stud high low, and not one but two WSOP titles in both the $2000 freezeout and $5000 short handed no-limit hold’em events. After becoming the youngest player (at the time) to win a bracelet and having a year most pros can only dream of, he justifiably went on to be crowned WSOP 2006 Player of the Year. I guess that’s pretty good for your first year on poker’s main stage. I guess…
