Best Poker Prop Bets of 2025 2025 didn’t just prove that poker is still alive and well it also showed that the real excitement still lives in the side action.

From million‑dollar self‑belief at the WSOP to a human vs AI grudge match, this year’s prop bet suggestions had it all. In 2025, three outrageous props cut through the noise — a Main Event shot for an extra million, a poker legend defending his legacy with seven figures, and the first serious human vs AI challenge of the new era. Talk is cheap If someone actually believes that I am a losing player in cash games (I have won over $3M since 2014 in cash games and have tax records to prove it), then will they put their money where their mouth is?

Jesse Lonis and Shaun Deeb Fight Over Controversial Fold with Trip Kings Jesse Lonis and Shaun Deeb have been firing shots at each other over a controversial hand which took place in the $25K Super Main Event.

Jesse Lonis has been taking flak for the last few days over this sick fold, and now Shaun Deeb is encouraging the pile on even more. And it turns out that the pair grew up near each other and Deeb even used to be a hero of Lonis as he climbed the stakes. Now though, it looks like the gloves are off and there is no love lost between the rivals.

Armed Police Storm Sweden’s Krukan Poker Club Stockholm police have conducted a dramatic armed raid on the long-running Krukan Poker Club with almost 100 officers present at the club.

What began as a regular quiet Friday night at the club soon turned into a scene worthy of a Hollywood script as the heavy-handed tactical unit swooped into position accompanied by a helicopter, drones, and the Swedish Gambling Authority. The authorities claimed that the popular poker club was no more than an underground hub operating without the necessary licensing. Officers rushed into the room with weapons pointing at the nervous players who were in the middle of a €100 buy-in tournament.

Maurice Hawkins Takes a Beating at Private Poker Game WSOP Circuit record holder Maurice Hawkins has been physically assaulted while playing poker in a private game.

The winner of 21 Circuit rings appeared to have been taking a one-sided beating from a larger man before the two sides were separated. Unsurprisingly, social media comments on the scrap mostly looked to be taking some pleasure at the controversial character getting thumped. For the last decade, Maurice Hawkins has provided the poker media one scandal after another, mostly regarding backing deals gone wrong with alleged unscrupulous behaviour. Now, it appears like the American has found out what many think about him.

Alan Keating Says Tournament Poker Is Not Real Poker Alan Keating has offended half of the poker community saying that tournament poker isn’t deserving of the name says its checkers versus chess.

, the high-stakes cash-game reg offered a blunt assessment of tournament poker that has reignited a long-standing debate within the poker community. Keating couldn’t have been any straightforward when he said: “Tournaments are more like checkers to me… I don’t think tournament poker is the most pure form of poker. Wait…I did just sugarcoat it. “I don’t think tournament poker is poker. It’s horrible, it’s a lottery. For me, poker at its purest is playing for irresponsible sums of money.

2026 Global Poker Awards Cancelled The GPI has announced that the Global Poker Awards a celebration of excellence in poker media content creation and innovation will not return.

This shocking decision marks the end of an annual tradition that began back in 2017 and served as the poker community’s premier recognition platform outside of major tournament accolades. GPI founder Dan Fleyshman launched the Global Poker Awards to honour contributions to the modern poker community that had grown up in the digital age — the kind of categories that regular people could aim at. Categories included “Poker Personality of the Year,” “Best Streamer,” “Breakout Player,” and “Industry Person of the Year,” with nominations and winners determined through a combination of fan voting and expert panels.

High-Stakes Crushers Clash Over Advice to Avoid Microstakes Poker High-stakes players Ben Rolle and Uri Peleg have clashed on X following the latter’s advice for new players to quit playing the smallest stakes.

Could it really be good advice to forgo learning the ropes in a $5 game? Uri Peleg certainly thinks that, and he’s caused a bit of a ruckus on X by saying so. He asked the question: “How to best study while playing microstakes?” Easy, he said: “Don’t play microstakes.” That’s a shocking answer for those who did it “the hard way” during the boom years, but does he have a point?

Hand of the Week: Alan Keating Stuns Doug Polk with Savage Hero Call for $675K Alan Keating has pulled off yet another sensational soul read on High Stakes Poker demolishing Doug Polk for a pot worth $657200.

In recent years, Alan Keating has built a reputation and standing within poker that is usually reserved for high-stakes live tournament players. For most of the poker boom, TV poker shows invited legends from years gone by, such as Doyle Brunson and the late Chip Reese, and the guys who were winning the big events consistently, like Phil Hellmuth. It was tough to break through into this pool of players purely by playing cash games behind the scenes.

Indian Poker Industry Clinches to Last Minute Reprieve at Supreme Court India’s Supreme Court Supreme Court is set to examine further a nationwide ban on online gaming on November 26.

A bench led by Justice K.V. Viswanathan will conduct a detailed hearing on petitions challenging the unpopular Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 (PROGA). In August 2025, the bill was passed through the Indian Parliament without any meaningful resistance, leading to fears that the growing online poker market in India would be shut down. Operators who provide access to real money games face large fines and prison sentences up to three years.

Phil Galfond and Grok 4 Agree Epic Poker Showdown Phil Galfond and Grok have apparently agreed to a high-stakes match after it replied to a thread showing the machine topping a leaderboard of AI poker performance.

Elon Musk posted the table showing Grok 4 leading the way in a battle of large language models (LLM) playing poker non-stop for five days straight. Is it the best AI out there? Well, we don’t know yet and Tom Dwan even popped up in the thread to tell Musk that GTO Wizard would wipe the floor with the lot of them Know when to hold ‘em pic.twitter.com/CymUMYKdpd — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 29, 2025

Top 10 Craziest Prop Bets Made by Poker Players Poker is best known for its intense strategic battles but how many people realise that much of the betting that goes on in the community is actually away from the felt?

When somebody mentions poker, it often conjures up images of a pair of figures staring intently at each other across the table, usually wearing sunglasses, trying to intimidate each other. What outsiders don’t think about is that these figures generally love gambling in many different forms, and as they go about their daily lives they will come up with the most bizarre, unthinkable wagers. These prop bets mostly aim at challenging not just skill but endurance, creativity, and sometimes sanity.

CoinPoker Brings Us the Best High-Stakes Cash Games Ever CoinPoker has once again brought us the biggest online cash games around today as Jared Bleznick and Linus Loeliger hit the felt with some massive wins.

This week’s action review begins with Linus “LLinusLL0ve” Loeliger — a candidate for best online 6-max player in the world — taking on fellow high-stakes crusher SeaLlama. The pair were battling with almost $100,000 on the table at the start of the heads-up match. Linus Loeliger SeaLlama Takes Some Beats Versus LlinusLLove The first hand of note comes with SeaLlama coming unstuck against a nasty board runout. The players are around $37,000 deep at stakes of $100/$200 NL.

Who Are the Most Influential People in Poker History? Poker has been around for a long time now with its landscape shifting continuously. But who are the characters in the game who have been the most influential over the years?

Chris Moneymaker at the WSOP 2003This is what Upswing Poker founder Doug Polk has been asking his fans and followers on X, and to be honest, we’ve seen some pretty interesting answers. Of course when you ask subjective questions like this, you will get a wide range of answers; not everybody will agree. WSOP Laying the Foundations Doyle Brunson The first name which appears throughout most of the early posts will come as no surprise to any generation of poker player still in the game today — Doyle Brunson!

Jared Bleznick Smashing the $200000 PLO Tables on CoinPoker Jared Bleznick is single-handedly bringing back the nosebleed scene to online poker after smashing out a constant stream of six-figure pots on the $200000 tables on CoinPoker.

The last few days have looked indistinguishable from an era gone by when the likes of Phil Ivey, Patrick Antonius, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan battled on the high-stakestables on Full Tilt Poker. “Theblez,” as Bleznick is known as on CoinPoker, has been helping to turn back the clock for the nosebleed games, regularly playing stakes of $500/$1,000 PLO and even higher, happy to take on all comers. Jared Bleznick’s been battling in the 200KPLO heads-up games on CoinPoker 🤯

Doug Polk Takes to Mainstream Media to Defend Poker from Unfair Tax Doug Polk has appeared on mainstream media new outlet New Nation to stick up for poker in the midst of unpopular gambling law changes.

Right now, the American gambling community is in a state of bewilderment about the prospective effects of a new version of the country’s gambling laws. Put simply, if everything continues down the path the government intends, the number of professional poker players in the United States will reduce massively. Possibly to the point of making the game unprofitable for all but a few. The issue is really all about one point — from next year, gamblers will only be able to write off 90% of their losses.

Frankie C Challenges Martin Kabrhel to Heads-Up Match Frank Frankie C Cucchiara has brazenly challenged high-stakes poker star Martin Kabrhel to a heads-up match apparently agreeing to play for $1000000 if he can get the money.

The Czech player is one of those names who consistently finds his way into the poker media for various reasons, often being a bit of a nuisance, but there’s no denying he’s a great poker player. Having Martin Kabrhel’s scalp on his record would make Frankie C a player of note, without a doubt. Who Is Frankie C? The 26-year-old poker content creator is a relatively new face on the scene and known for being the partner of Kitty Kuo.

Stephen Chidwick Finally Joins the Social Media Fray Elite live tournament specialist Stephen Chidwick has made his first foray into the world of social media opening an account on X to engage with his fans.

Stephen Chidwick The British star is known as the quiet man of top-tier poker and, although he has more than his fair share of fans, we really don’t know an awful lot about him as a man. Now, though, he has invited us to take part in an AMA — Ask Me Anything — on an X thread. Hello X. Many of you will know me as a top poker player who doesn’t say very much, and for a long time, I guess I didn’t really think I had much of value to say.

A Spotlight on Nuisance Players in Live Poker TV poker has always provided us with polarising characters but has some of the more recent nuisance behaviour gone too far? Are we risking harm to the game if nothing is done?

Will Kassouf Good, old fashioned live poker is supposed to be a blend of strategy and psychological warfare. It’s not supposed to be over-the-top trash TV. When the show becomes more about player behaviour than the actual poker, we should know that change is needed. What we witnessed during the WSOP 2025 exceeded anything we have seen before. Maybe the cameras amplify disruptive tactics, focusing the viewer’s attention on the negative, but the level of sheer annoyance indicated on social media was at a greater height than in previous years.

Standard of WSOP Dealers Called Out after Bizarre Hand One of the strangest hands of the summer has led to calls to improve the standard of dealers at the WSOP. A mucked card used to flop a set sparked the debate.

(Photo courtesy of WSOP/Spenser Sembrat) With tens of thousands of players all desperate to play the WSOP, it’s no easy job catering for them, and that of course includes attracting enough good dealers to service the 100-bracelet summer shindig. Nevertheless, some basic standards need to be met and it seems that we are quite far from achieving that, if recent evidence is anything to go by! Poker vlogger Lexy Gavin-Mather found herself in trouble when her pocket 7s were at risk against pocket 10s.

$1million Chip Dumping Allegations Mar WSOP Victory Jesse Yaginuma pulled back a 10-1 chip deficit to land WSOP gold and a $1milllion bonus but has sparked claims of a chip dumping deal.

Jesse Yaginuma and James Carroll (courtesy of WSOP) The grand finale to Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker saw both heads-up players – Jesse Yaginuma and James Carroll – lock up $1million payouts, with $250k and the bracelet still to play for. Yaginuma, however, was in line to pick up a ClubWPT Gold promotional bonus of another $1million, having qualified by bagging one of the sweepstakes-style online site’s Gold Rush tickets.

Phil Hellmuth Lets Fans Decide – Play or Boycott 2025 WSOP Main Event? Phil Hellmuth has put it to his fans to decide whether he plays the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event or goes ahead with his one-man boycott.

Phil Hellmuth has put it to his fans to decide whether he plays the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event or goes ahead with his one-man boycott. Phil Hellmuth – Photo Credit: Hayley Hochstetler The Poker Brat owns a record 17 WSOP gold bracelets and has played in every main event since, but he recently announced that the gruelling format was too much for him now and he would be giving this year’s edition a miss.

Alleged Angleshooter Alexander Shevliakov responds to Accusations The player accused of angle-shooting at last weeks EPT has responded claiming there were “no angles no tricks just an unfortunate sequence in a high-pressure spot.”

The player at the centre of the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event angle-shooting controversy has responded this week, claiming there were “no angles, no tricks, just an unfortunate sequence in a high-pressure spot.” Hi, my name is Alexander Shevliakov, and this is my message regarding the AKs hand against Jamil Wakil. I held off posting this immediately because I wanted to speak privately with Jamil first and give him the full version.

Tom Dwan Sectioned in London with Mental Health Issues Tom Dwan has the poker community worried after apparently being sectioned in a mental health hospital in London.

Tom Dwan has the poker community worried after apparently being sectioned in a mental health hospital in London. Dwan has tweeted multiple bizarre posts over the past few days. Dwan began to post about UK and US government yesterday, mentioning or tagging the likes of US president and vice-president Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, along with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Secretary of State for Home Department, Yvette Cooper.

Will Trump’s Tariffs Hurt the 2025 World Series of Poker? Could Donald Trump’s tariffs send shockwaves through the 2025 World Series of Poker disrupting players and costs in a ripple effect?

There can’t be many people on this planet who haven’t been following the news about the U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on the rest of the world. Jobs, savings, pensions, etc, have all been at the forefront of many people’s minds, understandably. But how will this affect our own industry? It’s a situation in flux, right now, but with the 2025 World Series of Poker on the horizon we could see some unexpected outcomes over the summer.