Professional poker player Shaun Deeb has agreed to a hefty $1m body fat wager with high stakes amateur player Bill Perkins. Confirming the bet over Twitter, Deeb must get down to 17% body fat within 14 months to win the money from Perkins. If unsuccessful, he will pay Perkins $100,000. Deeb, who weighs 306 pounds, has until May 30, 2024, the approximate start of next year’s World Series of Poker, to hit the body fat percentage target (he has not yet said publicly what his starting body fat percentage is).
video circulated on social media of Deeb eating chicken strips
Talk of a potential wager began when a video circulated on social media of Deeb eating chicken strips while playing in the WSOP Circuit Turning Stone Main Event, which he won. People started to discuss what the 37-year-old would need to do to get into decent shape.
Perkins is a professional trader and a high stakes poker enthusiast who has a history of taking part in body fat wagers. One of his most recent high-profile wagers was a $200,000 bet with Doug Polk, who had to shed half his body fat percentage in a year. The well-known poker personality and player narrowly lost, missing by just over 1%.
Perkins was on the Only Friends podcast when he discussed a potential wager with Deeb. Negotiations then took place regarding the specifics of the bet. Perkins believes that Deeb can hit the target in 14 months, saying: “I just laid him a really big price. I think he can do it. And I think he could get close and fail, but I think he wins no matter what.”