Name: Proposition bets, aka prop bets, ‘making it interesting’
Age: What do you think, 100 years? You want to take the over, or the under?
Appearance: Poker players doing weird things for money.
How many people do I need to proposition to win this bet? Please, don’t do that. Prop bets are made-up challenges, usually where one person believes something is impossible and the other tries to prove them wrong. And naturally, there’s money at stake. Old school poker players like Amarillo Slim Preston were famous for them, such as the times Slim bet he could outrun a horse, or defeat a tennis champion at ping-pong.
Did he win? He sure did, but always thanks to him setting the terms of the bet.
How? For example, Slim said he’d beat the horse as long as he could pick the track, so he chose a there-and-back race on a short track (turns out humans are much faster at turning around that speeding racehorses). With the ping-pong battle, Slim got to choose the bats they used, and went for cast-iron cooking skillets. Of course, he’d been practicing with one the whole time and defeated tennis pro Bobby Riggs.
So, it’s just a hustle? In those examples… yeah, kinda. But these days folks are more likely to nail down the specifics in advance to stop those shenanigans. And while there’s money on the line, these things are often pretty funny. Like this week’s story of a challenge to drink nothing but water from a Camelback for an entire year.
Can we make it beer instead? What is this, college?
You’d never catch me getting involved in this kind of stuff. Really? I bet I can list eight strange prop bets between poker players for you by the end of this article.
I’ll take that action. Gotcha. Welcome to the world of prop bets.
Okay then hotshot, what are these weird wagers? How about (1) a bet on how long it takes to complete a 2,000-piece jigsaw? Josh Arieh took that one on a few years back. Or (2) shooting free throws with 90% accuracy? Mike McDonald spent some time during lockdown honing his skills from the stripe, and ended up nailing it.
So these are purely tests of skill? Sometimes they’re more physical. McDonald also won another $10K by (3) doing 300 air-squats during one 60-minute tournament level. Then there’s Antonio Esfandiari, who instead of walking, had to (4) lunge everywhere he went for 48 hours back in 2016. Before the end came he was so exhausted that he couldn’t even make it to the bathroom during a tourney break. He took matters into his own hands, and got a DQ for his troubles. And (naturally) there’s Dan Bilzerian, who figured he could (5) cycle from LA to Las Vegas in 48 hours. Turns out, it only took him 33.
These are certainly odd, but I don’t know if I’d call them weird. It gets weirder. One of the best has to be the challenge undertaken by Rich Alati in late 2018. The WSOP Online bracelet winner bet he could (6) spend 30 days living in a soundproofed bathroom in total darkness.
That sounds like torture? According to the United Nations, it is. Nevertheless, Alati endured so successfully that he was eventually bought out of the bet after several weeks for over $60K. Rob Kuhn was also bought out of his prop bet to (7) survive on nothing but water, coffee, electrolytes and vitamins for 30 days.
That can't be good for you. But some prop bets actually are. Both Shaun Deeb and Doug Polk have undergone (8) body fat challenges: Polk tried to lose 50% of his body fat in a year (he lost a reported $200K), while Deeb was challenged to lose even more, and won $800K. On the other hand, in 2017 Mike Noori tried to (9) eat $1,000 worth of McDonalds food in 36 hours. He didn’t get past $100 worth (and we’re sure it didn’t do anything to help with his body fat).
That’s a lot of crazy prop bets. I told ya. Now, pay up.
Sorry, that was nine. You said eight. Dang it… should've checked the small print.
Do say: “I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse…”
Don’t say: “...in 24 hours, on one leg, in the dark.”
