High-Stakes Poker Pro (and Friend of Tiger Woods) Ben Lamb Can Drop the Hammer on the Golf Course, Poker Tables

Ben Lamb recently won his second career World Series of Poker bracelet, and he says that pressure-packed rounds on the golf course carry some key differences from a big poker hand.

This is the first in a series of articles about how golf is the common thread of nearly every big event in Las Vegas, the Sports and Entertainment Capital of the World.

Your definition of small stakes on the golf course may differ a bit from that of high-rolling poker pro Ben Lamb.

For Lamb, a "small" bet during a round with friends is a few hundred to a thousand bucks a hole. So much for getting nervous over the $25 Nassau with automatic two-down presses at the country club this weekend …

When the real money starts flowing for Lamb and his fellow poker pros, tens of thousands of dollars will be there for the taking on any given hole.

As of this writing, Lamb, 38, is fully immersed in the 2023 World Series of Poker at the newly-renovated Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, but he still took time out from the tables to talk about his favorite passion(s): golf – and betting on his golf game.

“I have a few different groups of guys I golf with and the stakes vary,” said Lamb, who this year earned his second World Series of Poker bracelet with a win in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship. “When I play with my good friends, we play for anywhere from 300 bucks to a thousand bucks a hole. That is not enough for anyone to get hurt too badly. We also adjust our handicap strokes on a day-to-day basis, so the money should go back and forth. The best thing is that when you win there is the opportunity to let the other guys know about it.

“I also play with poker players. We play as big as $5,000-$10,000 a hole and usually birdies are double. Those games can get pretty big, pretty quickly. I'm trying to beat them, they are trying to beat me, and there's mutual respect. There can be a lot of money on the line over a final putt on the 18th hole and emotions can get high.”

Lamb’s favorite golf betting game is Hammer. The rules are that one player at a time has the ‘hammer.’ If the bet is $1,000 a hole and a player hits it into the trees, the player with the hammer can "hammer" the other player in trouble, which doubles the bet if the hammer is accepted.

The player can "fold" the hole and not accept the hammer if things look totally bleak. But if the hammer is accepted, that player can hammer right back if he hits a great recovery shot. The hole then doubles again from $2,000 to $4,000. And play continues in the same manner.

“The Hammer games are the biggest games I have been playing in recently and I think it is a fantastic golf betting game,” said Lamb, who carries about a 7 handicap and is a Southern Highlands Golf Club member. He also plays quite a bit at exclusive Shadow Creek and other Vegas courses.

The 54th annual World Series of Poker is set to shatter participation records in 2023 and 115 coveted bracelets are on the line from May 30 – July 18. In 2022, the event attracted 197,626 entrants from over 100 different countries and awarded more than $347 million in prize money. Many of the poker pros play golf, which is always a topic of discussion.

Lamb, who teed it up with Tiger Woods during the 2023 Genesis Invitational PGA Tour Pro-Am in February in Los Angeles, is always front and center at the World Series of Poker. It is pretty much the only time of year when golf takes a backseat.

Lamb at Woods at the Genesis Invitational pro-am earlier this year / Courtesy of Ben Lamb

Lamb met Woods when he played in Tiger’s Poker Night, a charity poker tournament that helps raise money for the TGR Foundation that aims to empower minorities and underprivileged students. Playing golf with Woods was a bucket-list item for Lamb, even if he struggled with his game. His brother, Stuart, and good friend, Shane Sigsbee, each caddied during that round.

“It was great to share that experience with Tiger, Stuart, Shane, my wife, Rachel, and other friends, but I was playing about as poorly as possible for the first seven holes,” Lamb said. “I'm sure you have seen some of the videos because it was not pretty. I fired my brother and put Shane on the bag and I played O.K. after that.

“Tiger was very approachable, very nice and very funny. He told some funny jokes and he was awesome. He also gave me some tips. I had a birdie bet with my buddy, Brad. Tiger gave me some great reads on some of the birdie putts. Unfortunately my putts were not as good, as Tiger’s reads so I didn’t make any birdies.”

Whether playing with Tiger or for high stakes, pressure can be intense, just like when millions are at stake on the poker table. The feelings are similar, but Lamb keeps it all in perspective.

“I am a plus-handicap poker player, but I am a not a plus-handicap golfer, so it is much easier for me to deal with pressure in something I have done at an elite level for 20 years like poker,” Lamb said. “Whereas in golf, I am a decent golfer, but not a great golfer. In a pressure situation on the course, it's going to be more difficult just because I'm not as capable as I am in poker.”

Earning his second WSOP bracelet in June ended a streak of 12 years without a title in poker’s ultimate event. In 2011, Lamb won the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship and made the final table of the main event to win $4 million. He also captured player of the year honors over the legendary Phil Helmuth.

“Total bracelets are the easiest way to measure a poker player’s success at the World Series of Poker and for some poker players, they are the only thing that matters,” Lamb said. “Not winning another bracelet for so many years did start to wear on me and I felt like I needed a second bracelet. I truly thought I really need a few of them, but I had to get my second one out of the way. The win the other day was a huge weight off my shoulders. Over the last few years, a lot of my friends had won 2, 3, 4, 5 or more bracelets and I was just sitting there lonely with my one from over a decade ago. Now I want a third, I want a fourth and hopefully a fifth or more.”

Lamb sees the similarities—and differences—between golf and poker, and believes that some players can get ahead of themselves.

“A lot of times, players can let a situation get too big and they need to realize that each hand is just a poker hand and to keep it simple,” Lamb said. “Each hand is just a little puzzle. If you focus on solving that puzzle then it gets less emotional and you give yourself a better chance to make correct decisions in a high-pressure situation.

“I have always looked at golf as a good balance to playing poker. The two are kind of a ying and yang. In poker, there is quite a bit of luck on a day-to-day basis, but over a multi-year span, the best player is going to win. What makes poker so great is that on any given day, anyone can win, especially in a tournament. Whereas in golf, there is very little luck. Maybe you will get a couple lucky bounces or maybe a couple putts will go in instead of lipping out, but, in general, there is not a whole lot of luck. Usually whoever plays better that day wins.”

The amount they win depends on the wager, who is playing, and sometimes most importantly, who has the hammer.

Brian Hurlburt is the founder of LasVegasGolfInsider.com and can be followed @lasvegasgolfinsider on social media.