Poker players love their prop bets
Shaun Deeb had 14 months to slash his body fat percentage by more than half or he would lose $100,000. He isn’t there yet, but he is now hundreds of thousands of dollars richer, as he announced over the weekend that he has accepted an $800,000 buyout from Bill Perkins for their prop bet.
The prop bet came about in late March of last year when Deeb tweeted, “I find it funny how few people realize how impossible even a healthy person it is to get to 10% bf let alone me im open to discussion on a winnable bet tho,” tagging Bill Perkins, who has a history of betting against poker players in weight loss prop bets.
Perkins offered him a two-year deadline, to which Deeb countered with 17% in two years (rather than 10% body fat), his $100,000 against Perkins’ $1 million. Perkins came back with one year, to which Deeb responded that if he got until the start of the 2024 World Series of Poker, he was happy to book the wager. Perkins specified May 30, 2024, likely because they didn’t know exactly when the WSOP would begin (the schedule was just released – it’s May 28) and they had a bet.
It’s been quite a journey
It was going to be a long road for Deeb, who has struggled with his weight. He started at 306 pounds and on April 18, 2023, a dual x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan clocked him at 40.2% body fat.
There were little to no rules on what Deeb could do to lose the weight, but it sounds like he has tried to go about it the healthy way via diet and exercise.
In late January, Deeb posted a picture of himself noticeably trimmer along with a DEXA scan report that had him at 23.9% body fat. He was getting there, but he still had about 7% to go in four months. And then, just last Thursday, he showed a report that had him down to 22%.
On Saturday, Deeb announced that he and Perkins talked and he has accepted a buyout of $800,000, meaning that the prop bet is now officially over and Deeb has won $800,000. Perkins clearly thinks Deeb was going to get down the goal body fat percentage, so he saved himself $200,000.
Shaun Deeb is still determined to see the challenge through, not willing to rest on his laurels now that he has clinched a substantial payday. His goal is still to get to that 17% body fat mark by the end of May.
Image credit: PokerGO.com