Jason Mercier looking for action on an alcohol free year
Prop bets are very common amongst gamblers and while poker is labeled as a game of skill, there is always an element of gambling when playing the game. Something which the most successful players in the industry know all too well and some of them are known for gambling huge amounts outside the game of poker.
2014 barely got underway when Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier issued an interesting challenge on his Twitter account. He announced that he will take a minimum bet of $100,000 for not drinking any alcohol for the next 12 months and his message quickly attracted the attention of other big poker players such as Mike McDonald, Andrew Chen and Brett Richey.
Some of his friends couldn’t resist joining in on the topic, even if they used a different approach. Shaun Deeb suggested a bet on who can drink the most over the year. As of now, nobody has accepted the bet but the details will be discussed over the 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure taking place right now in the Bahamas.
Actress and poker player Tiffany Michelle seemed to be the most interested in the prop bet issued by Mercier, who has won over $1.8 million in 2013.
One of the major concerns is that those willing to take Mercier’s prop bet will have to trust that he keeps his word; something which can go great amongst his friends but maybe doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence for gamblers outside his usual circles. Of course, there are tests that can show whether he has been drinking or not, but that can come as in insult to the poker pro.
A few years ago, Phil Ivey made a bet with Tom Dwan that he would not eat meat for one year. The stake was for $1 million and Ivey didn’t last more than a couple of months before asking Dwan to settle for over $100k. Last summer, Ivey took on another challenge, this time to stop drinking and some people have speculated that the bet was worth around $10 million.
Easy win for Mercier?
Jason Mercier is now trying to do something similar, but it seems that he will not get any action since it seems like an easy win for the two-time WSOP bracelet winner. Some can even consider the bet as a way for Mercier to get an extra incentive to do something that he already wants to do. He stated in an interview that he came up with this prop bet after waking up feeling terrible due to drinking, so it doesn’t seem like it will be something difficult to let go.
The whole concept of a prop bet related to no drinking is that the person taking the bet would have some difficulty doing it. When Ivey tried to stop eating meat for one year in exchange for one million dollars, Dwan knew very well that his love for meat would make it a very difficult thing to do and was willing to put seven figures on the table. Even if the bet proposed by Mercier is smaller, his poker winnings are also significantly smaller than those that Ivey claimed throughout his career.
On the other side of the argument, quitting alcohol is very difficult and while the financial motivation can help, it will all come down to willpower. Millions of people fail to meet this challenge every year, even though they really want to stop drinking.
If Mercier wants to try to stop drinking for 12 months, he might have a lot of difficulty that will see him gladly give $100,000 to get back to his regular routine. After all, it is just a super high roller entry, which he can lose in one hand of poker.
