Poker Proposition Betting

Have you ever heard the term “prop betting” used in gambling parlance? If you have ever gambled before it is likely you have made some sort of prop bet with your friends. For example, have you ever bet them £10 you can beat them in a race? How about who can eat the most in a contest, or shoot the best round of golf with one club? These are all prop bets and poker pros are renowned for their propensity to engage in prop bets for sometimes unbelievable amounts of money. To clarify, proposition bets mean you are wagering against someone that they can or cannot do a certain challenge.

In a recent book about how poker players started their careers, top pro Layne Flack says that some of the dangers of Las Vegas are in the gambling that goes on away from the casino floor. He says that many players are always saying “I bet you that…” and so on, willing to stake money for just about anything. The danger of gambling is that sometimes you cannot do anything without wanting to wager money on the outcome and this is the point where the gambling itself can become addictive. Prop betting is something that I have never engaged in and never would.

Daniel Negreanu has an ongoing prop bet with Phil Ivey that for every World Series of Poker bracelet that they win they must pay the other $200,000. Ivey won two bracelets at this years World Series of Poker and is at the final table of the main event. This is proving to be an expensive world series for Daniel! When Phil won his first bracelet his earnings from prop betting with poker colleagues was said to be worth to him in the region of $3 million. There were also rumours that his second win netted him up to $12 million. Ivey is one of the biggest gamblers around, often winning and losing up to $1 million in craps. In perspective, however, he earns around $1 million per month from Full Tilt Poker as well as his poker profits.

Erick Lindgren is currently doing a prop bet that he can run the mile in 4 minutes and 15 seconds before a certain date this year. If you search on YouTube you can find a prop bet between Mike Matusow and Gus Hansen that they can return five serves out of ten from tennis pro Justin Gimbelstob. Matusow is not a tennis player, yet took on Hansen who played in his youth. Matusow lost and it cost him $10,000. Even the great Tiger Woods was involved in a prop bet. He had to use a driver to do three “keep ups” from behind his back with the face of the club, flick the ball through his legs and volley a drive down the fairway. He lost after missing the drive, and the prop bettor saved $10,000 that said Tiger could not do the shot.

This shows that poker pros and indeed many other gamblers make crazy prop bets just to get “action” into their everyday lives. I would personally prefer players to focus on their poker and not let the allure of gambling interfere with their pursuit of poker excellence. Stick to what you know, that is a good motto. Prop betting is also a form of hustling as most people will not offer to prop bet you in something they think that you will win. Only prop bet with your friends in a fun surrounding with money you can afford to lose, if you do it at all.