Top 5 Prop Bets

Friday, Apr. 25, 2008

Top 5 Prop Bets of All Time

By Daniel Skolovy | PokerListed

Prop betting and poker go hand in hand like Canadians and hockey, and poker players are renowned for their gamble. Here are, arguably, the top five prop bets of all time.

1) Amarillo Slim vs. Taiwanese table tennis champ with Coke bottles for paddles

Slim first came up with this prop bet when he defeated Bobby Riggs, a noted tennis pro. In that match he said he would play the pro with paddles of his choosing.

Much to Riggs' surprise, when Slim showed up on game day he produced two cast iron skillets. Riggs went down, and word got round that Slim had worked out a Ping-Pong hustle.

A man named Lefty figured if he brought in a ringer and got him training with a skillet Slim wouldn't have a chance. So this Lefty asks, "Slim, if I bring you a player will you play him?" Slim says, "Sure, as long as I get to choose the paddles."

So poor Lefty figures that Slim will choose the skillets again. and has this Taiwanese Ping-Pong stud training all day long with a giant frying pan.

Come game day, Slim saunters over to the vending machine and buys two glass Coke bottles (yes; this was back in the day when there were still glass Coke bottles, kiddies), pours the Coke out and hands the empty bottle to the Taiwanese pro.

Little did Lefty know Slim had suspected everyone was wise to his skillets and thus had been practicing with empty Coke bottles the entire time!

72 holes nearly killed him, but it made Erick Lindgren $340k.

Slim ended up winning the contest quite single-handedly and made excessive amounts of money.

2) Erick Lindgren's 72 holes of golf in a day

Gavin Smith, Phil Ivey and a small conglomerate of other players bet Erick Lindgren that he couldn't play 72 holes of golf in one day at Bear's Best golf course in Las Vegas.

They stipulated that he had to walk the entire way and carry his own clubs, and shoot under 100 on every round from the pro tees. Erick successfully completed this bet in over 100-degree heat and netted himself a reported $340,000.

3) Huck Seed's 18 hours in the ocean

Phil Hellmuth and Huck Seed were spending a relaxing day at the beach when one of them came up with this bet. Huck figured he could stand in the ocean with water up to his shoulders for 18 hours.

Hellmuth accepted the bet and the stakes agreed upon were $50,000. Huck made it three hours before conceding defeat.

Doesn't matter how much of an animal lover or health nut you are, tough to pass up $10k to eat a cheeseburger.

4) Howard Lederer eats a cheeseburger for $10,000

As a vegetarian, Howard Lederer is strongly opposed to eating meat of any sort. David Grey, another poker player, bet him that he couldn't eat a cheeseburger for $10,000.

Howard accepted, and devoured the burger. Story has it that there is an open bet for David to win his money back at any time - all he has to do is eat a few olives. That money remains on the table.

5) Brian Zembic and his $100k breasts

Brian Zembic, a poker/backgammon player, and his friends got to talking. Eventually his buddies put up $100k to go to Zembic if he got a set of after-market 36C breasts installed.

Zembic, never one to shy away from easy money, did just that: he went under the knife and had a beautiful pair of breasts implanted on his chest. Which he apparently still has to this day. He claims they're a hit with the ladies.

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