Poker Pros Jaime and Matt Staples Win $150k Weight Bet with Bill Perkins

Brothers Jaime and Matt Staples made a weight-transformation bet last year with high-stakes poker player Bill Perkins. Jaime, who weighed 304 pounds (138 kilograms), and Matt, who weighed 135 pounds (61 kilograms), had to weigh the exact same amount within a year.

This meant that Jaime needed to lose a tremendous amount of weight, while Matt had to pack on pounds.

They were able to recently accomplish this feat, both weighing in at 183.3 pounds (83 kilograms). Jaimie lost over 120 pounds, and Matt gained 48 pounds.

Poker Brothers Win $150,000 from Perkins

Perkins gave the Staples brothers 50-to-1 odds on completing their bet. And they wagered $3,000, meaning they stood to win $150,000.

"There is so much incentive to start taking health seriously and to learn how to live a better lifestyle," Jamie Staples told ABC Good Morning America. "I don’t know about you, but for me, I was like, 'Here we go.'"

Matt and Jaime began hitting the gym on a regular basis after the prop bet was confirmed. Matt's focus was gaining weight through muscle mass. Jaimie did more cardio so that he could drop more pounds.

"I fell in love with it," Matt Staples said. "I enjoyed putting on muscle, putting on size."

Part of the transformation also included a dramatic change in their diets. This meant cutting out fast food and opting for healthier foods.

"A year ago," said Jaime, "I was eating whatever my heart told me I wanted to eat. [Now] no sugar, very low carbs, protein and vegetables."

For Matt, the goal was to eat lots of protein, pasta, and rice, so that he could bulk up in a healthy manner.

"The food part of this bet was a lot harder for me than the workout part of it," Matt explained. "Eating 3,000 to 3,500 calories for the last three months of the bet when I had already put on a ton of size got really tiring."

Another Wild Prop Bet for Bill Perkins

Bill Perkins has been involved in some of the most-interesting poker prop bets in history. And this wager with the Staples brothers only adds to his lore.

Perkins’ most-famous bet was against Dan Bilzerian riding a bike from Las Vegas to L.A. in less than 48 hours This bet was not only high profile because of the $1.2 million involved ($600k for each side), but also because Bilzerian is an Instagram sensation.

Bilzerian completed the 300-mile bicycle ride over rough terrain in 36 hours, winning $600,000 in the process. Perkins was a good sport about the matter, even though Bilzerian was caught drafting off a “chase” van at one point.

Perkins also bet poker pro Jeff Gross $550,000 that he wouldn’t get a gay rainbow tattooed on the back of his neck. Gross got the tattoo and must keep it for the rest of his life in order to keep the $500k.

He wagered Antonio Esfandiari $50,000 that he couldn’t lunge everywhere he went for 48 hours. Esfandiari won the bet, but only after a controversial episode where he peed in a bottle under a poker table.

“The Magician” didn’t want to lunge to the bathroom during a poker tournament, because his legs were so sore. He held a bottle underneath the table and urinated in it to save himself a trip. But people became offended when they noticed what was going on. Esfandiari donated the $50k to charity and apologized for the incident.

Luckily, there was nothing controversial about the way that Jaime and Matt Staples won their bet. In fact, it’s drawing international news headlines, because of the uniqueness of the wager.

Maya Feller, a registered dietitian nutritionist, told Good Morning America that the brothers weight transformations are completely safe.

"They really spent some time saying, you know, 'How are we eating, how are we exercising,'" she said.

"And [they said] said, 'Let's make this conscious effort to not only win but to make sustainable change that's based in reality.’ In addition, their transformations "brought them together, which I think is really wonderful.”