In the poker community, the history of proposition bets – colloquially known as prop bets, or just props – runs deep. While the vast majority of the action takes place on the felt, the wagers made away from the tables provide an endless source of entertainment and intrigue. Sure, some of the more outlandish or dated props might be apocryphal tales of yore, but that doesn't make them any less fun to talk about.
There's no shortage of famous proposition bets in the poker world, but we've listed a few of our favorites below:
- John 'Johnny World' Hennigan tried (and failed) to trade the Las Vegas lifestyle for six weeks in Des Moines, Iowa.
- Phil Ivey booked a million dollar bet with Tom Dwan on the condition that he follow a vegetarian diet for an entire year. After three weeks, Ivey bought out.
- Antonio Esfandiari spent two days at the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure lunging everywhere he went instead of walking – he won the bet, but at what cost?
- Vanessa Selbst nearly lost $1.8 million in a bracelet bet against Jason Mercier at the 2016 World Series of Poker – don't drink and proposition bet, kids.
- Canada's Mike McDonald won a quarter of a million dollars in a free throw shooting prop bet.
- In 2021, Rich Alati won $62,000 after spending 20 days in a pitch black room with no contact from the outside world.
- More recently, we saw Doug Polk and Shaun Deeb separately take on billionaire businessman Bill Perkins in body fat bets. Polk fell short, but Deeb cashed in for $800,000 after a buyout.
Ben Lamb's water bet
Clearly, poker players love a good prop bet. So when Ben Lamb took to social media to ask his followers how much it would take for them to drink nothing but water from a CamelBak for a year, the replies did not disappoint.
"Prob $500K think you slip up a very high %," Deeb wrote.
Nik 'Airball' Arcot replied with his willingness to bet on himself at even money. When Lamb asked his maximum bet, the reply came in: "my net worth."
"Literally could not pay me to do this," was Haley Hanna's immediate response. "Imagine how annoying going to a restaurant and having to drink only water out of a back pack. I don’t think it’s even necessarily healthy to only drink water lol Like no coffee or wine for a year?? Nope, no thanks."
When Lamb pushed Hanna for a number, she replied, "Tbh probably around 500K."
Chris Moneymaker wasn't too confident in his abilities on this front: "1 million and I would prob lose."
McDonald, always focused on the details, asked: "Who pays for the water?"
2018 WSOP Main Event Champ Joe Cada said, "350k and I'll donate half."
What's your price for this bet? Or, is it just too much of a burden to stick it out for a year? Let us know in the comments.
