One of the most famous prop bets of all-time definitely belongs to Ashton Griffin and Haseeb Qureshi. As some people will recall, these two booked a huge prop wager in 2011, whereby Griffin had to run 70 miles in 24 hours to win $285,000. And this bet is so interesting that it never hurts to recount it, which Qureshi recently did again on his blog.
From a re-posted blog entry, Qureshi explained how this prop bet was already insane enough, given that Griffin had never run more than 22 miles in one day, and he was essentially running three marathons in a 24-hour period. People assured the former Full Tilt Red Pro that Griffin had almost no chance to complete the 70 miles, even with his previous wrestling and cross country experience. Add in the fact that Ashton only had four hours of sleep the night before and had been drinking at a bar, and Qureshi felt like this was guaranteed money.
So Griffin gave his friend and former roommate 3-to-1 odds on the wager, with Qureshi putting up $285k and Griffin winning $885k if he could complete the seemingly impossible feat. When you consider that Qureshi would either be winning +$855k or losing -$285k, this was essentially a million-dollar bet.
Worried about their friend and how his health would hold up during this task, Qureshi and their friend, Doug “WCGRider” Polk, constantly monitored Griffin every half hour or so to make sure that he hadn’t injured himself or collapsed from exhaustion.
Unable to sleep, Griffin was seen rocking back and forth in his bedroom during one break. The pressure and amount of money on the line kept him wired. However, he was falling off the pace that he needed to keep to win the wager. Making things even more bizarre is the fact that Griffin’s parents were coming up from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando (3 hours away) to convince their son to stop this madness.
Griffin’s parents told Qureshi and Polk that they “weren’t his real friends” for putting their son up to this bet. The mother told both guys that the wager was off and went back upstairs to check on her boy. The pair made Griffin some spaghetti and he ate it before getting back to the treadmill.
Having run 30 miles in 12 hours, Griffin needed to complete 40 miles over the next 12 hours. With his parents watching over him, Ashton ran into the night while Qureshi and Polk slept. With 19 hours now past, Griffin had caught up to the pace he needed to win the bet. However, it was going to be a long five hours since his legs were weakening and his pace was slowing.
As much of the poker community knows, Griffin ended up covering the miles he needed to win the bet, and with a little time to spare. However, the wager and everything that happened during it seemed to change things between he and Qureshi. The latter doesn’t even play poker because he feels like the game no longer makes him happy. Now, Qureshi focuses on his writing and having fun, rather than grinding for hours online.