A famous poker star Howard Lederer, the two-time Poker World Series champion, who also earner over $6 million playing online poker wasn’t hungry just for money. His uncontrollable love for food almost costed him an early grave due to his overweight. Doctors advised him to get a gastric band and a very strict diet to buy himself a couple of extra years. Lederer took it seriously and lost more than 75 pounds (around 34 kg). Seeing this, his friend David Grey bet him $10,000 that we wouldn’t eat a cheeseburger. Without any second thought, Lederer devoured the burger and won his $10k. There’s no such thing as a free meal they say.

John Matthews was diagnosed with cancer and decided to turn things around a bit. His idea was to make some money out of the news he received. Doctors told the guy that had around five months left to live, but that did not faze Matthews. Instead of living out his last days, he decided to place a bet on himself beating the illness. During the first year of surviving, he made $8,300, he kept on living and got himself another $8,300 the following year. Soon enough, the odds on his life grew up to 101.00 (100/1) doubling his possible winnings ($16,600). Unfortunately, the living streak came to an end taking his life in May 2010. John left this world but did it with an extra $16,600.

Sometimes people make some silly bets, and this one is a good example. The owner of Virgin Airlines Richard Branson once offered the AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes an interesting bet. Branson was so confident about the Virgin Racing team that we wanted to challenge Fernandes. The bet was on Virgin Racing team to do better than the debuting at that time Lotus team in the Formula One season. Both were so hyped about it that just hopped on the bet immediately.

The most interesting part of the bet that the loser had to dress up in drag and serve on the winner’s airline for a day. The idea was so nice that Fernandes send the mock-up of the look he wants Branson to have in case of his loss. Unluckily for Branson, Virgin finished 12th to the Lotus’s 10th, meaning that the famous entrepreneur had to serve as an AirAsia flight attendant on the 12th of May. “The sexier, the better”, said Fernandes to Richard taking it to the skies with AirAsia for the flight from Perth to Kula Lumpur.

Sometimes gambling gets over you, and you keep spending money on it till you have nothing left. In poker, usually, if you run out of the money you have to leave the table defeated but not in the case of the Russian poker player Andrei Karpov. The player was so desperate to turn things around in the card game against Sergei Brodov that he placed his wife as a stake. It was just not his day, and Karpov had to give up his wife. Tatiana, his wife, after hearing the news, went furious and divorced the crazy gambler, saying she felt humiliated and ashamed being treated like a stack of chips. She ended up marrying Sergei and living a happy life with someone who won her heart “even in the poker game”.

Gambling can easily get to your head, and the next person is a good example of it. Brian Zembic, a professional backgammon player, always was a little too open towards taking up strange bets. He made a name for himself after winning a $15,000 challenge that he couldn’t live in a bathroom for a month and sleeping in a box for a week to win $25,000. The Canadian native decided that it was time to go one more step further. His friend Jobo, another hardcore gambler, got into an argument with him about the breast implants and decided to settle it with an unusual bet. Zembic had to get 38C implants and keep them for an entire year to win $100,000.

At first, Brian wasn’t taking it seriously, but after losing some decent amounts of money on the stock market, he decided to accept the challenge for some extra cash. Hearing the serious intentions of Zembic getting the boob job done, Jobo tried to buy out, offering $50,000 and getting the offer turned down. Brian, on his hand, ended up keeping the implants and caring them up to this day, earning himself a promised money along with celebrity status. He also mentioned that he’s feeling okay with them and that they don’t bother him, though, he would remove them on his daughter request. Living up to crazy dares seemed to be getting over Zembic after he refused the bet to cut off his penis. Since then he stepped out of it saying “life is not all about the money”.