Prop betting in the pub
In his Community Weekly Round-Up Barry Carter (Alongside Vicky Coren) reflects on some funny prop bets that started in the pub.
Yesterday I was in the pub with some friends watching the Liverpool vs Chelsea game, my friend had bet on an early Liverpool goal, and when that didn't happen, he was faced with the prospect of not having anything left to gamble on for the entire match.
I'm not sure how it happened, but we ended up betting on which person on the table next to us would go to the bar next. It was actually quite gripping (In part because the first half of the football match was quite boring due to Chelsea putting on a defensive masterclass), because we had a near miss moment when one man got up, but instead went to the toilet. My friend eventually won the bet.
Some of the funniest prop bets I've done have started in the pub, as have many very famous ones from the world of poker like Ashton Griffin's 70 mile run, Erick Lindgren's golf bet and Antonio Esfandiari's no sex bet.
My own personal favourite is many times we have bet on the first letter of the first word that a friend will say when they arrive in the pub. The rule is you cannot say anything to them, they have to speak first, so I always pick a range of letters that includes a W, because usually they have no idea why everyone is silently staring at them, so they ended up just saying "What?"
I spoke to Vicky Coren recently and she preached to me another golden rule of pub prop betting:
"Never bet on facts. Bet on as yet undecided outcomes. If you’re betting on something that’s already happened and the person you’re betting against is happy to put a lot of money up, they probably know the results already."
"This grew from the time I was in the pub with Neil Channing near Christmas and Fairytale of New York came on the radio. He said he thought it was a cover version. I said, “Don’t be ridiculous. This is obviously Shane MacGowan and Kirsty McColl; listen to it.” He said, “No. It’s a cover.” Anyway, we bet a hundred pounds on it and we asked the barman to have a look at the CD cover. As Neil was pocketing my money he told me - never bet on facts."
You can hear more from Vicky tomorrow, in my exclusive interview with her.
Got a better story? Tell me about the funniest prop bet you and your friends have done in the pub in the comments box.
Thread of the week
Many of our popular blogs are the start of one player's journey from small stakes to the elite levels, watching our hero grow from a minnow into a shark over months and years.
clandestineal can't be bothered with all that, and instead has created the blog - The shortest blog in the world?? 4BI bank roll challenge.
Basically he is adopting a bankroll management system where he moves up every time he has four buy-ins for the next level, and moves down whenever he loses three.
I'm not sure I agree with his money management - but I must say it looks like it will be fun to watch.
LOL of the week
I miss Tony G, I kinda hope he doesn't get elected in his upcoming political campaign because he always makes me laugh when he is playing poker, like here:
Running hot
The last full week in April looked like this:
• I praised double-EPT champion Vicky Coren and asked, what's the next big poker accolade?
• Speaking of which, I recapped some other classic 'poker doubles'.
• Our reporter Tobias Frey asked some very big names what they thought of shot-clocks.
• Chris Moorman answered PokerStrategy.com member questions.
• For this week only, upgrade to HM2 or PT4 for 40% off.
Coming up
A big week ahead, including:
• Three huge interviews, and as mentioned, one of them is non-other than double-EPT champion Vicky Coren.
• We have the final of the PokerStrategy.com Heads-Up Championship tomorrow.
• Live coaching from 
Gandolparah, UriPeleg and Tomsom87.
• New videos from Schnitzelfisch, Lackoogcb and Splitsuit.
 Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2. He has been working in the poker industry for nine years and in 2013 won the APAT Award for Best Poker Media Provider. You can learn more about his work here.
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