As of late, I have become something of a degenerate. I used to never bet on anything outside of poker, no matter what it was. Ok, so sometimes I did £5 bets with friends, but that was it. Recently, I am betting a LOT more...

My biggest bet of the month was for $1,000. It's a slightly strange bet because we both have the same one - if one of us fails to play 40,000 (poker) hands this month, we have to pay the other $1,000. Please note: I have a fulltime job.

I ran really really bad at the start of the month, so took a week off. By the 18th I had played 20500 hands.. And so made a similiar bet with another player that we could do 20,000 hands by the end of the month, this time for $200.

The $1,000 player messaged me on 2 + 2 yesterday saying that he had gone crosseyed from too much poker. He was on 30,000 hands and whilst he could play another 10,000 by the end of the month (he had 2 and a half days), he would hate to do so. He offered to buy himself out for $500. We both lose if he plays it out, so I took the money. I probably should have asked for $6-$700, but I didn't want to press my point...

The guy I had the $200 bet with was 3,000 hands short when he sent me a message this morning saying that he isn't going to make it as he has to move house. He didn't offer to buy himself out, and in that case I suppose I would have had to say no: He would have no chance of playing it out, so I lose if I let him get out. I am sure he knew that too.

Of course, I still have to play my 40,500 hands by the end of the month, and I still have 3075 to go... If I lose, it's going to cost me $500 rather than $1200, but I think that's still motivation enough to spend my Saturday eight tabling!

This isn't actually the biggest bet that I have going right now, perhaps I'll explain that one next time...