News / Chris Edwards / 13 June 2008 / Leave a comment

As if playing in $10,000 tournaments was not enough, the professionals will gamble on anything and everything. Here we look at some of the biggest WSOP prop bets over the last two years.

In 2007 during a Stud 8 or Better event, Daniel Negreanu, Erick Lindgren and Michael Mizrachi bet $5000 each on who could go the longest without shuffling their chips. Soon after the bet was made, Mizrachi asked Lindgren what counted as a chip shuffle. Lindgren showed him and subsequently lost the bet. They doubled the bet for the next round.

The toughest bet from last year involved Erick Lindgren. He was bet by Gavin Smith that he could not play 4 rounds of golf, shooting under 100 all in a single day. He had to carry his bag and endure the sweltering Vegas heat without taking a break. He had a $100,000 bet with Gavin, a $200,000 bet with Phil Ivey and $40,000 from other players. He went on to win the bet, but felt the strain after wards. 'This may of taken a year or two off my life' Lindgren said the next day.

This year has seen its fair share of big prop bets, with Phil Ivey being the centre of attention. Maybe trying to get motived after a 3 year bracelet drought, Phil's first big bet is with Daniel Negreanu. They have bet $200,000 a bracelet so if Daniel won 3 and Phil won 2, Phil would owe Daniel $200k. They also have another undisclosed bet and with Daniel already winning a bracelet, he has taken an early lead. Phil's second bet is with Ted Forrest. Ivey bet Ted $500,000 that he will win two bracelets and $1m that he will win 3. On top of these bets, he laid any players 1.8/1 on him winning a single bracelet. Ivey is hungry for action and with many feeling he has the worst of it in these bets, he has a lot of playing to do.

Finally, Ted Forrest has been involved in more action, this time with Mike Matusow. At the 2007 WSOP, Ted bet Mike $100,000 that he could not lose 60 pounds in exactly a year. At the time Mike said he had an 'amazing metabolism' and that the bet would be easy. Fast forward to a week before the bet ends and Mike had hit a wall and had to starve himself for the last 4 days, with the last day not even drinking saying he felt like he was 'going to die'. Mike made the weight with 2 pounds to spare.

Its seems that these pros are the ultimate gamblers, risking their health and even their lives for the action.