PROJECT POKER: Prop betting my way to better health

It’s been a while. I’m happy to report that things are on the up and up. Poker has been going better, I have been exercising more and feeling better, all in all, life is good. This is in part due to a couple of prop bets I made to help give myself a little extra kick in the behind.
Both bets are made against another poker playing friend of mine. For the first one I bet that I would meditate 100 times before the end of the year. His side of the bet is to play 80 sessions of poker. Now before you say that I got the raw end of the deal – let me say that he lives in Las Vegas (so online poker isn’t a great option) and that he is a very, very lazy poker player, even more than your usual lazy poker player. The bet is a draw if neither of us completes our end of the deal, and also a draw if both of us complete our ends. In order to maximise the likelihood that we both hit our targets we went big and made the bet for $12,500. In all honesty it’s very unlikely either of us will lose this bet – but if it forces us to achieve our goals then that’s a success in my eyes.
The second bet we made is that I have to average 10,000 steps or more a day until the end of the year, and he has to gain 10 lbs of weight (he’s trying to bulk up). I think this one is a lot harder for both of us, and we’re a lot more likely to fail. It requires more consistent work since if either of us fall far behind early on it’ll be very very difficult to make up later on. This bet is for $2,500 – I can definitely see one of us losing this bet.
So far since making the bets I have noticed a significant boost to my overall energy levels and mind clarity. Just getting out of the house more and walking/running to get my 10k steps has been so beneficial. I’d noticed that beforehand I could go days without leaving the house – glued to the computer grinding and grinding. That sort of sedentary lifestyle is really damaging to both physical and mental well-being and I’m very happy to not be stuck in that cycle any more.
I highly recommend any other poker players (or anyone, really) out there who find themselves spending most of their day sitting in a computer chair to get up and stretch your legs – set a target (10k steps is a good one IMO) and try to hit it every day. Maybe even make a prop bet of your own! It’s a fun way to give you a motivational boost to improve your life, and I can definitely see more of these types of bets in my future! ROY BHASIN