Ted Forrest Wins Weight-Loss Prop Bet, Matusow Can’t Pay

Mike Matusow and the new junior-sized Ted Forrest.

Two of the biggest prop bettors on the poker circuit, Mike Matusow and Ted Forrest, just settled an enormous $2 million bet. But unfortunately for the winner, Matusow won’t pay up.

A few months back, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow made what seemed like a particularly crazy prop bet. He agreed to pay Ted Forrest, the king of winning gruelling wagers, $2 million dollars if Forrest could drop from 188 pounds down to 139, by July 15th. To make it even a tougher bet for Matusow to win, he’d still pay Forrest $1 million, even if it took Ted until September 24th to drop the weight. If Forrest couldn’t lose the pounds, he’d pay Matusow $150,000. But keep in mind, Forrest is a guy who famously ran 25 miles in 100+ degree heat to win just $7,000. 

So on July 15th, Forrest weighed-in at 138 pounds to win the wager. And that settled it. Except for one big problem… Matusow didn’t pay up. According to him, they’d agreed before the bet that he’d pay Forrest off in $5,000 installments. Said Matusow: “I could pay him one big lump sum. But I’m going to wait six months to see if he dies first… He starved himself for 11 days and ran 16 miles a day. He’ll get paid all of it, but I made it clear when we made the bet, he’d get $5,000 a month.”

Forrest remembers it differently: “He said that after the fact.” But, despite the difference of opinion, the two seem happy to settle on a mutually agreeable payment plan. Because after all, if Matusow goes bust paying out the $2 million, then he won’t be making any more ill-advised prop bets, and that’s bad for everyone.