Poker players are known for their propensity for making an outlandish prop bet or two, and Jamie Kerstetter is the latest pro to lock in a five-figure wager.
This one involves a promise by Kerstetter, who was a commentator for the 2018 World Series of Poker, to go vegan for one year.
It all started with a tweet from fellow poker commentator David Tuchman, who wondered how much money it would take for someone to give up all animal products.
I feel a prop bet coming … if you’re a meat eater, how much money would you need to go vegan for a year? @RealKidPoker @bp22 @DougPolkPoker @DarryllFish @Liv_Boeree
— David Tuchman (@TuckonSports) February 4, 2019
While Doug Polk piped up that it would probably take upwards of $200,000 to forgo meat, Kerstetter had a more modest figure in mind – $10,000 – saying it’s “something she’s interested in anyway.”
Not long after that, the bet was booked with, who else, Bill Perkins.
The terms:
- Kerstetter goes vegan for one year — from Feb 6, 2019 to Feb 6, 2020
- She must give blog updates two times per month
- If she does it, she wins $10,000
- If she fails, Perkins chooses where Kerstetter must volunteer for 100 hours
- If she doesn’t complete the volunteer work, she pays Perkins $10,000
Many in the poker community offered to help Kerstetter through the next year, including high-profile vegan Daniel Negreanu.
Meat Wars
One guy that probably won’t have any dieting tips for Kerstetter? Doug Polk, who may have provided the genesis for this prop in the first place.
A few days before the bet was booked, the pot-stirring Polk blasted vegans in a Twitter post, which predictably drew a slew of responses from animal advocates like poker pro Liv Boeree.
You can find the full exchanges by clicking through the Twitter link.
Vegans – If you dont want to eat any animal products, that’s fine. You have a right to choose what you eat and if it makes your life better thats great. But please spare everyone else the misery of being talked down to, we have always eaten meat and dont care you prefer tomatoes.
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkPoker) February 4, 2019
That tweet set of a firestorm of discussion, which no doubt played a role in Tuchman’s subsequent tweet, and the bet eventually being booked.
Bill Perkins, Human Prop Book
It will come as no surprise to anyone who’s followed prop bets in the poker community over the years that the man behind this latest wager is Bill Perkins.
The millionaire hedge fund manager and amateur high-stakes poker player has been the book maker for many of the high-profile prop bets in recent years. And they all have a theme — helping people improve their health.
Last year, the poker-streaming brothers Matt and Jaime Staples won $150,000 from Perkins after a weight-loss bet which forced the pair to get within one pound of each other.
The year before that, Perkins gave poker streamer Joe Ingram 3-to-1 odds that he couldn’t swim a mile after two months of training.
No word on who ended up winning that bet, but Perkins was on the losing side of yet another high-profile bet with playboy Dan Bilzerian. The self proclaimed “King of Instagram” won $1.2 million from Perkins when he successfully cycled from Las Vegas to Los Angeles in under 48 hours.
