Just a casual prop bet thought
Poker players and prop bets go hand in hand. If you are a professional poker player and have never engaged in a weird prop bet, I have to question your dedication to your craft. The latest new in the prop bet world comes from young pro Landon Tice, who on Tuesday said he would consider living at Bally’s Las Vegas for one year. For the right price, of course.
Patrick Leonard chimed in, making it sound like this prop bet could be a real possibility. He tweeted that he received a message from Tice, saying that he would do it for $100,000.
Naturally, questions arose as to who would foot the bill for the hotel stay, which would likely amount to tens of thousands of dollars. Leonard said he thought Bally’s might be willing to sponsor the bet. He also believes that Tice would get loads of Caesars Rewards out of it, as well as thousands in slot credits. Whether any of that is realistic or just pie in the sky thinking remains to be seen.
Tice certainly thinks that someone other than he would pay for the lodging, as in a tweet, he appeared to consider the $100,000 “profit.”
Would you do it? Not so sure if I could.
I believe – and this would definitely be the case were I to consider a bet like this – that much of the negotiations will hinge on how strict the “living at Bally’s” actually is. That is to say, will Tice have to stay in his room 24/7? He seems to think that he will have free run of the property, with the ability to use the pool, exercise facilities, etc.
Now, there is no way I would do this at this point in my life, as I have a wife and kids and I’m not about to leave them for a year (as much as I would like to, RIGHT?). But let’s say I didn’t have a family (aside from parents, brother, of course – I’m talking about wife and kids) or a job that tied me to an office. I would consider this prop bet if I could have free roam of Bally’s.
Having to stay in the room the entire year would be extremely difficult. Mobility is limited, the only sunlight is from the window, and even the lack of variety in seating would get frustrating. Perhaps Bally’s would permit the installation of a treadmill to at least let me get my blood circulating, but being confined to just the hotel room would be rough.
And of course, details of pay are important. I would not accept having to pay the hotel room myself. Either that or negotiate net winnings or losses.
Tice lost a heads-up challenge
Landon Tice, for his part, is no stranger to interesting bets. Last year, he entered into a $200/$400 No-Limit Hold’em heads-up challenge against Bill Perkins. The catch to the challenge was that Tice paid Perkins 9bb/100, meaning that he was automatically in the hole $720,000.
Tice started out well, finding himself up $63,720 after 4,907 hands, but despite that, he decided to concede and end it. The problem he saw was that he was already a quarter of the way to the 20,000-hand limit and the $720,000 just loomed too large. Reports were that Tice himself wanted to continue, but most of the money was put up by backers, who wanted him to quit.
On the bright side, Tice only had to pay 9bb/100 for the number of hands he played, not the entire 20,000, so he was out $176,652 on that end.