The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King

by Michael Craig

  While discussing this, I won a few more hands.

  “That’s it, Michael,” he said in a voice more stern than angry. “If we can’t just be quiet and play, I’m going to have to get my headphones.”

  Chastened, I shut up and proceeded to give away more chips. I tried too many fancy plays, too many bluffs, too many maneuvers. We each started with 300 chips and, in less than two hours, he had 500 of them.

  The unusual thing was that I found it much easier to focus when I was low on chips. Whenever Beal came close to finishing me off, I would get up off the mat and fight back.

  Three or four hours in the game, I started trash-talking, even though he had dominated the match:

  “Come on, Andy. I thought you were one of the best heads-up hold ’em players in the world. Can’t you finish off a guy who can barely play in a $20-$40 game in Arizona?

  “Andy, I have a lot of questions left to ask. Could you please just win the rest of my chips so I can get back to something I know how to do?”

  Finally, he had me down to just two chips. I was all-in on the blind and won. I was all-in on the next blind, and won that, too. Then I was dealt two kings and won that hand, too. Now, I had sixteen chips, still just a pittance, but after five hours, he had to be worrying that he’d never get rid of me.

  “I swear, Andy, if you don’t win these sixteen chips in the next five minutes, I’m going to get every chip you have and you’ll have to live with seeing that in print for the rest of your life.”

  He laughed, but he had to be getting sick of this. He was clobbering me and I was still jabbering at him, and he couldn’t close the deal. This game had no upside for him and we both wanted it over.

  On the button, Andy started with queen-jack, both clubs, a good heads-up starting hand. He called the remaining two chips of my big blind and raised.

  I had the ace-king of spades, one of the best starting hands you can have in hold ’em. It was a premium hand, potentially a monster, but the Texas road gamblers eschewed its common name, “Big Slick,” for “Walking Back to Houston.” According to T. J. Cloutier, probably the winningest tournament poker player in history, if you played ace-king too often or too aggressively in Dallas, you could find yourself walking back to Houston.

  We went for a total of four raises before he just called. There were twenty chips in the pot, and I had six left.

  The flop consisted of a ten of hearts, and a nine and seven of spades. It was exactly the flop I was looking for. I figured that Beal had an ace with an inferior kicker, which would mean he was drawing almost dead. I thought, correctly, that I wouldn’t even have to improve to win the hand, but if I was wrong, I could probably still win it with any of the three aces, the three kings, or the nine remaining spades. I bet. (There was one flaw in my reasoning, which would not have changed my play of the hand had I realized it. The remaining kings would have made me the highest pair, but would have made Beal a winning straight.)

  But it was a great flop for Andy, too. He had two overcards (cards higher than any card on the board) and an open-ended straight draw. He could win with any king or eight (for a straight) or jack or queen (for the top pair). Not knowing my cards, however, he probably guessed he would lose if he did not pick up one of those fourteen cards. Furthermore, some of those fourteen cards (like the king of spades, which was in my hand, or the eight of spades, which would make him a straight but give me a winning flush) weren’t really available. But I had only four chips left, and the pot odds definitely favored him spending a total of six more chips (two to call my bet and the maximum of four I had left and clearly wanted to get into the pot) to win twenty-six chips (the twenty-two in the pot already plus the four more in my stack that were sure to join them). He reraised. I raised back, and he called, so I was all-in.

  I made some gratuitous comment about how I was going to take those thirty-two chips if I won them and make him stay until I won every one of the 600 chips on the table.

  The turn card was a three of diamonds, helping nobody.

  The river card was the king of hearts.

  For an instant, we both thought the same thing: I finished with the top pair and was somehow still alive.

  Within a couple seconds, we and the dealers saw that was incorrect.

  The suicide king had made Andy Beal a winning straight.

  Not only did Beal outdraw me on the last hand—though he dominated the match and was leading 584 chips to 16 before that hand, so I can hardly cry that he won due to luck—but he refused to take my money when I tried to pay up. I wouldn’t be walking back to Houston, but I would be slinking back to the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport the next morning, feeling that I played this hand right, but the couple hundred preceding it like a drunken refugee from the keno lounge.

  Several of the players remain convinced that they will see Andy Beal again across a poker table. Some, like Ted Forrest, don’t care much about the terms. “Our biggest mistake was originally not just getting on a plane and playing him in Dallas. Then we wouldn’t have had to argue about choosing players and the size of the stakes.” Others felt he simply couldn’t give up the game and would, at some time in the future, just return to Las Vegas and say, “Who wants to play some poker?”

  I spent nearly a year with the best poker players in the world. Andy Beal, if not part of that club, was certainly one of the world’s best heads-up hold ’em players, and one of the world’s most successful businessmen. In short, I had an opportunity to learn from some very wise gamblers.

  I can say two things for certain. First, it will be at least several decades before there is a higher-stakes poker game than Andy Beal played against Todd Brunson, Chip Reese, Hamid Dastmalchi, Gus Hansen, and Jennifer Harman on May 12-13, 2004.

  And second, I wouldn’t bet you on it.

  Bibliography

  BOOKS

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  Bellin, Andy. Poker Nation. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.

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  Cloutier, T. J. and Tom McEvoy. Championship No-Limit and Pot-Limit Hold ’Em. Las Vegas: Cardsmith, 1997.

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  ———. Telling Lies and Getting Paid. Connecticut: Lyons Press, 2002.

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  May, Jesse. Shut Up and Deal. New York: Anchor, 1998.

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  Sklansky, David, and Mason Malmuth. Hold ’Em Poker for Advanced Players. Henderson: 2 + 2, 2003 (4th ed.).

  ———. How to Make $100,000 a Year Gambling for a Living. Henderson: 2 + 2, 1998 (2nd ed.).

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  Smith, Raymond. The Poker Kings of Las Vegas. Dublin: Aherlow, 1982.

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  ———. Total Poker. London: André Deutsch, 1990 (Rev. ed.).

  Wiesenberg, Michael. The Official Dictionary of Poker. Inglewood: Mike Caro University, 1999.

  ARTICLES

  Adams, David. “Big Furor, Tiny Island.” St. Petersburg Times, October 18, 1999.

  Alson, Peter. “Chan Is Bluffing (We Think).” Esquire, May 1989.

  Bensman, Todd. “Dallas Entrepreneur Comes Closer to Building Space-Rocket Plant.” Dallas Morning News, October 7, 1999.

  ———. “Dallas Entrepreneur’s Rocket Plans Arouse Controversy in Caribbean.” Dallas Morning News, March 18, 1999.

  Berns, Dave. “Binion’s Told to Pay Gamblers.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, March 16, 1999.

  Blow, Steve. “Math Lover Offers Winner Piece of Pi.” Dallas Morning News, November 30, 1997.

  Cochran, Mike. “Would You Bluff This Man?” American Way, February 15, 1993.

  Dalla, Nolan. “From Longworth to Las Vegas and 70 Years in Between: Poker Legend Doyle Brunson Tells His Story and Shares His Views on Life as a Gambler (Parts I and II).” Pokerpages.com.

  ———. “Great Gamblers in History—Doyle Brunson.” Gambletribune.org, October 22, 2003.

  “The Deal with Beal.” Dallas Business Journal, June 21, 2002.

  Donovan, Doug. “Rocket Man.” Forbes, April 17, 2000.

  Eolis, Wendeen. “Lyle Berman and Steve Lipscomb’s Confection: A Poker Tournament Season on National Television (Parts I and II).” Poker Digest, May 2002.

  Files, Jennifer. “Dallas Banker Targets Market for Satellite Launching.” Dallas Morning News, March 23, 1998.

  Foust, Jeff. “Beal Aerospace Shuts Down; Cites ‘Intolerable’ Government Interference as Factor.” Space.com, October 23, 2000.

  Friess, Steve. “Power Out 13 Hours at Large Las Vegas Resort.” Boston Globe, April 12, 2004.

  “Frisco, Texas-Based Aerospace Firm Closes.” Dallas Morning News, October 24, 2000.

  Glanton, Eileen. “Where Are They Now?” Forbes, January 8, 2001.

  Glazer, Andy. “A Princess Emerges from Poker’s Aristocracy.” Casino.com, September 24, 2001.

  Green, Nick. “The Robin Hood of Poker.” Daily Breeze, September 5, 2004.

  Guberman, Mary Ann. “Poker World Roasts Doyle Brunson.” Card Player, October 2, 1992.

  Habal, Hala. “Plano Banks Fail to Impress Rating Agency.” Dallas Business Journal, May 18, 2001.

  Jaffray, Allyn. “Barry Greenstein: A Modern-Day Robin Hood.” Card Player, February 27, 2004.

  Johnson, Linda, and Dana Smith. “Interview with Doyle Brunson.” Pokerbooks.com, 1998.

  Kaplan, Michael. “All Bets Are On.” Cigar Aficionado, July/August 2002.

  ———. “Hits and Runs.” Cigar Aficionado, November/December 2000.

  ———. “Winner Take All.” Cigar Aficionado, October 2004.

  ———. Young Guns. Las Vegas Life, August 2003.

  Koch, Ed. “Doyle Brunson: Poker’s Living Legend.” Poker World, January 1995.

  Kurson, Ken. “My War—Earn Cash While Working at Home!” Esquire, March 1998.

  Lanning, Rick. “Texas Dolly.” Nevada, July/August 1983.

  Lederer, Howard. “My 4 Day Diary of the 2003 WSOP.” Gutshot.co, 2003.

  ———. “World Poker Tour Finals Report—A Look Back at the $25,000 Event,” Liveactionpoker.com, 2003.

  Lederer, Richard. “My Son the Poker Player.” 19th Annual World Series of Poker (tournament program), 1988.

  Lent, Gary. “The $5,000 Olive.” Finaltablepoker.com, May 4, 2004.

  Mackenzie, Dana. “Mathematics: Number Theorists Embark on a New Treasure Hunt.” Science, November 21, 1997.

  Maudlin, R. Daniel. “A Generalization of Fermat’s Last Theorem: The Beal Conjecture and Prize Problem.” Notices of the American Mathematics Society, December 1997.

  McNamee, Tom. “Power from Poker.” Chicago Sun-Times, February 8, 2004.

  Negreanu, Daniel. “Meet Jennifer Harman (Parts I and II).” Card Player, May 24, 2002, June 7, 2002.

  Pappalardo, Joe. “Love and Rockets.” Dallas Observer, March 1, 2001.

  Phillips, Edward. “Beal Aerospace Developing New Launch Vehicle.” Aviation Week and Space Technology, April 6, 1998.

  Pienciak, Rick. “Getting a Taste of Ultimate Sin—Millions from Texas.” New York Daily News, September 11, 2004.

  Raghunanthan, Anuradha. “Beal Bank Plans to Leave Texas.” Dallas Morning News, June 14, 2002.

  Rice, Melinda. “Man on a Mission.” D Magazine, January 2000.

  “Rooms at the Top.” Player, May/June 2004.

  Ruchman, Peter. The Fall of the Temple of Chance: Benny Binion’s Legacy. Gamblersbook.com, 1999.

  Sexton, Mike. “Doyle Brunson—Part I.” Card Player, September 10, 2004.

  Shapiro, Max. “Meet Barry Greenstein.” Card Player, November 21, 2003.

  Shulman, Allyn Jaffray. “Doyle Brunson—Five Decades of Poker and Still Going Strong.” Card Player, August 27, 2004.

  Shulman, Barry. “Doyle Says, ‘Let’s Plan an $80 Million Freezeout!’” Card Player, October 22, 2004.

  ———. “The World’s Biggest Poker Game.” Card Player, October 8, 2004.

  ———. “The World’s Biggest Poker Game—A Proposed Compromise.” Card Player, November 5, 2004.

  Simpson, Jeff. “Big Games Bring in Big Money, Big Names.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, April 13, 2003.

  ———. “Nevadan at Work: Doug Dalton—MGM Mirage Director of Poker Operations.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 12, 2002.

  Smith, Dana. “Interview with a Champ: Chau Giang.” Pokerbooks.com, 1994.

  Smith, John. “Former Aerospace Chief Suffers Rough Landing at Bellagio Poker Table.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, December 21, 2001.

  ———. “Horseshoe’s Sinking Fortunes Obvious to Many Toward the End.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, January 16, 2004.

  Surman, Matt. “The Call of the Cards.” Los Angeles Times, March 27, 2002.

  “The $20 Million Game of Hold ’Em.” Masterbets.com, 2003.

  Welch, David. “Profits Level Off for Beal Bank’s Bad Loan Barons.” Dallas Business Journal, September 20, 1996.

  ———. “The Thrill Is Gone: Beal Looks Beyond RTC Loans.” Dallas Business Journal, July 12, 1996.

  Wilson, Craig. “Poker Pays Off.” USA Today, October 10, 2003.

  WEB SITES

  Annieduke.com (profile of Annie Duke, information about Howard Lederer)

  Bealaerospace.com

  Bealbank.com

  Bealconjecture.com

  Bellagio.com (information about the resort and schedules of poker tournaments)

  Binions.com (information on the history of the hotel-casino and the World Series of Poker)

  Cardplayer.com (archives of Card Player magazine, player profiles, and tournament results)

  Conjelco.com (World Series of Poker history and results)

  Fdic.gov (reports filed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation by Beal Bank)

  Finaltablepoker.com (results of poker tournaments, stories, and columns by Andy Glazer)

  Fulltiltpoker.com (profiles of poker players)

  Gamblersbook.com (reviews and summaries of poker books)

  Gamblingtimes.com (archives of Gambling Times and Poker Player magazines, player profiles, and tournament results)

  Gaming.unlv.edu/WSOP/index.html (University of Nevada-Las Vegas retrospective on the World Series of Poker)

  Gutshot.co.uk (articles and tournament poker results)

  Homepokergames.com (profiles of poker players)

  Playwinningpoker.com/wsop (information about the World Series of Poker)

  Poker3000.com (results of poker tournaments)

&
nbsp; Pokerclan.com (discussion and rumors about poker)

  Pokerpages.com (results of poker tournaments and player profiles)

  Pokerworks.com (results of poker tournaments and information about the nightly action in Bellagio’s poker rooms, as seen by a dealer)

  Rec.gambling.poker (discussion and rumors about poker)

  Thegoodgamblingguide.co.uk (poker writings of Jesse May)

  Thepokerforum.com (results of poker tournaments and background on the World Poker Tour)

  Twoplustwo.com (Web site of 2 + 2, the company publishing Malmuth and Sklansky; poker information and discussion)

  Worldpokertour.com (the World Poker Tour’s official Web site)

  Wptfan.com (fan site for the World Poker Tour)

  Wptinsider.com (information on the World Poker Tour)

  Acknowledgments

  Although many people helped me during the course of writing this book, it could not have been written without the influence of two women.

  My wife, Jo Anne, motivated me to pursue and complete this project, and was patient and understanding during my numerous “research” trips to Las Vegas, hours-long middle-of-the-night phone calls, and my decision to shoot craps with Ted Forrest. She has always given me the space to pursue my own path, no matter how difficult or foolhardy it at first (or later) appeared. That she is also a terrific editor with a laser beam for weaknesses in my writing is a freeroll.

  At the beginning of this project, I met Linda Geneen, a poker dealer at the Bellagio. Her Web site, Pokerworks.com, is a remarkable account of daily life in Bellagio’s poker room, one of the most interesting and bizarre work environments on earth. She was unbelievably generous with her knowledge, insight, and judgment.

  I received so much help and support from so many sources that I must apologize in advance if I omitted anyone (possible) or did not adequately express my appreciation (likely).

  Family: My children, Barry, Ellie, and Valerie, showed tremendous patience during the months I was away or preoccupied with this book, as well as considerable poker skill. My mom and dad provided encouragement and support, during the project and in the forty-five years preceding.