Online Poker Player Takes On Hot Dog Prop Bet

High stakes poker players are notorious for the prop bets they set up with each other. Whether it’s Phil Ivey trying to go vegetarian for a year or Jeff Madsen moving to Israel for a month with no contact with his friends, poker pros will go to great lengths to win money over the silliest things.

But you don’t have to be a high-roller to take on a crazy bet - just ask 22-year-old Canadian and McMaster University student Jim Harrison, who’s currently in the middle of a quest to eat 450 hot dogs in the month of April. Like most bets, this one came up randomly - while cashing out some of his online poker winnings, he and a friend stopped to grab a hot dog. His friend joked that Harrison ought to spend all the money on hot dogs, and after lots of negotiating they’d come up with a prop bet.


Harrison is getting 3:2 odds against $1,000, so if he hangs on he'll win $1,500. The only stipulations are that he must eat each hot dog in front of a webcam for documentation purposes, that each hot dog has to be on a bun, that he can only throw up four times over the course of the month, and that he has to finish all 450 hot dogs by 11:59 p.m. on the 30th of April. He’s managed to keep a pace of three meals per day, with each meal consisting of six hot dogs. Most of them have been eaten plain, with the occasional dab of mustard or ketchup to add flavor.

Harrison has the support of his friends and some of his family - but his mom isn’t happy about it because of how unhealthy a diet is. Maybe if he holds out and wins the bet he can take her out to a nice dinner - sans hot dogs.