Prop Bet Goes Awry

Poker is filled with prop bets. Some may argue that more money is passed along through side bets than at the tables. The WSOP is never shy to prop bets, and some become public. One of those that has become the talk at the tables is a prop bet made between Vanessa Selbst and Jason Mercier. Selbst first made headlines with a prop bet when she publicly made a bet with poker pro – Dzmitry Urbanovich. The bet was for him to win 3 bracelets at the 2016 WSOP. If Dzmitry won the bet, he stood to win $1.8 million. Until Jason Mercier won his first bracelet at the 2016 WSOP, not many people knew of the same prop bet he made with Selbst. After talking about his prop bets after his victory, Selbst bet started to come to the forefront. The bet was the same $1.8 million prop bet where Mercier was getting 180:1 odds if he won 3 bracelets. You may think these odds are outrageous, but when you look at history, only 5 players have won 3 bracelets in one year. Most of them happened when the fields were 20 players, and winning multiple events was much, much easier. Winning just one bracelet in today's WSOP is mathematically not going to happen for most players. Winning 3, is almost impossible. After Mercier won his first bracelet, Selbst began selling off action, in hopes of protecting herself in case he did win those 3 bracelets. The debate starts when Selbst took to Twitter and text messaging explaining the bet. She claims she was drunk, “Blackout” drunk according to her when she made this bet with Mercier. The day after she made the bet and sobered up, she immediately tried to buy out of the bet for $1,000. Mercier would owe $10,000 had he not won the bet, but this is pocket change for him, so the chance to win $1.8 million, no matter how unlikely was worth risking $10,000. Obviously, Mercier turned this down, and Selbst later offered him a $100,000 buyout. Again, Mercier turned this down and the debate began. Selbst sent out a mass text message explaining the situation and claims Jason was less than nice about the situation and upset about how he handled it. The two took to Twitter with a few tweets back and forth regarding the matter. As most adults handle their problems these days. Mercier Tweeted “u think 100K is generous. I think its way below expectation…Again we disagree.” Selbst responds in regards to her level intoxication. “disparity in level of drunk is what upsets me. I almost blackout, he wasn't close. If you don't get it, fine.” Jason had the last word on Twitter disagreeing with Selbst once more. “almost black out??? We were at a Pokerstars team pro dinner….You are grossly exaggerating how drunk u were.” Selbst can rest easy now as Mercier failed to win 3 bracelets. Barring a win at the main event which is unlikely, Mercier will owe $10,000 to Selbst. But the debate will live on.