Better Living Through Prop Betting

March 5, 2024
3 Minute Read

Money is the major motivator for so many things. It makes us work hard, pushes us to monitor the financial markets, and drives us to cash in on deals where we find them.

The Thrill of Prop Betting for Poker Players

For professional poker players, money also ranks as the primary lever for proving a point. So-called “prop betting” – short for proposition betting, which is what it sounds like: gambling on a proposition – causes millions of dollars to change hands for those in certain circles. It also serves as the fuel that moves players to take on dares, attempt athletic feats, or do things that are both difficult and life-enhancing.

In the case of Shaun Deeb, a once morbidly obese poker player, it began with him competing in a Texas hold’em tournament at Turning Stone casino in Upstate New York. He weighed over 300 pounds and was blithely polishing off a plate of chicken fingers.

That image, captured on video, inspired Bill Perkins, an oil and gas billionaire who plays some of the world’s highest stakes poker, to offer Deeb a proposition: Deeb’s $50,000 to Perkins’ $1 million, for Deeb to get his body fat down to 12 percent. At the time, Deeb was holding 40-percent body fat, though Perkins may have thought it was higher.

“I carry my weight badly,” Deeb told me. “It’s all in my stomach and face. But my calves are thin. So, I look heavier than I actually am.”

A tick above 300 pounds at the time, Deeb negotiated the end goal to 17 percent body fat and agreed to bet his $100,000 against Perkins’ million. So far, things are looking good for Deeb: With four months to go, he is at 23-percent body fat and weighs around 215 pounds.

But that transformation did not come easy and it’s costing him a small fortune. “I’m spending $300,000 to $400,000 on a trainer, doctors, the massage therapist who used to work for the Giants,” he said. “I am working so hard and have less energy than before. I am running my body into the ground. I’ve discovered that it is very hard to get muscle mass while losing pounds.”

Among poker players, Huck Seed is known as being a king of prop bets. He has engaged in various challenges, from athletic feats to endurance tests, showcasing the diverse range of prop betting.

The Psychology Behind Prop Betting

Why embark on the more outlandish prop bets? “It’s to prove we can do something,” said Deeb. “Everybody claims that they can do things. But among poker players, you have to put money on it if you really think you can do it.”

Some bets land in the hands of whoever is trying to pull them off and require major commitment. Such was the case when poker pro Mike “Timex” McDonald put out to gambling cognoscenti that he could hit 90 out of 100 free throws, highlighting the competitive spirit and the stakes involved in prop betting within the poker community.

The podcaster and poker player Joey Ingram – who made bank by writing a 40,000-word book in six weeks and playing 600,000 hands of online poker in a month – described prop betting to The Athletic as “an art.”

There was also the wacky spectacle of a bet made by poker pro Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari. His commitment to a unique and challenging prop bet underscores the lengths to which poker players will go to win a bet, adding to the narrative of prop betting as a blend of determination, creativity, and, occasionally, absurdity.

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