Ted Forrest, Mike Matusow and some other well-known pros are finalists for the 2014 class of the Poker Hall of Fame. Forrest and Matusow, both successful poker players with plenty of television exposure, are of course popular among serious poker players and casual fans alike.
But they might be best known for their roles in a 2010 prop bet over just how much weight Forrest could lose over the course of just a few months, a bet that is once again in the news as the two are still fighting about how much Matusow owes.
That bet came about after Matusow had won a similar bet against Forrest years earlier, when he slimmed down to 181 pounds from 250 in less than a year. That bet earned Matusow a cool $100,000.
The Forrest bet required him to get down from about 188 to under 140 pounds, with two potential end dates: one (July 15) that would win him about $2 million, and another (September 24) that would earn him $1 million. The only rules were that Forrest couldn’t use drugs or amputation to win the bet.
Forrest Drops Weight to Win Bet
Much to the shock of Matusow, Forrest managed to get the weight off, winning the $2 million.
“I didn’t eat for 10 days,” Forrest said at the time, referring to a fast just before he weighed in at 138 pounds to win the bet. “Then, I ate the last few days, and that enabled me to win the bet. I ate a kiwi, a tomato and five or six raspberries, which game me the energy to make the final push and lose the weight.”
Even at that time, it was clear that payment was going to be something of an issue. Matusow said in interviews that he “made the bet because I didn’t think it was feasibly possible,” and said that he would pay Forrest $5,000 a month for the next 18 years to make good on the wager. Forrest pointed out that it would take over 33 years to pay out the full $2 million.
“I think he should try to pay me as much as he can in the next two months and then work out a satisfactory, reasonable, agreeable payment arrangement,” Forrest said.
Payment Issues Persist Four Years Later
Apparently, that never happened. Forrest went to Twitter last week to complain about just how little of that bet he has recovered.
“[Matusow] has payed me $70.500 of the 1.8 million he owes me for the weight loss bet,” Forrest tweeted.
“I weigh 180 but I’m light about 1.7 million,” Forrest tweeted a week later. “Please I am asking you Mike make some type of good faith effort to do the right thing.”
Matusow Tells Different Story
Eventually, Matusow returned to Twitter to respond to Forrest’s allegations. While he has apparently since deleted those tweets, Matusow claimed that he never wanted the Forrest bet.
“4 years ago me and Ted made a bet and were very drunk when we made it I then told him I don’t want the bet cause I can’t afford to lose,” Matusow tweeted.
Matusow then claimed that Forrest told him he could cancel the bet for $500,000, but Matusow refused, instead making the pledge to pay out in $5,000 increments.
“After it looked like he would win he went to Howard [Lederer] and full tilt demanding they pay the bet if he wins, they laughed in his face,” Matusow wrote.
Matusow says that Justin Smith paid $200,000 of the bet, and that he was close to paying 10 percent of what he personally owed Forrest.
“I feel this is more than fair since Full Tilt ruined my life,” he wrote.
