The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King by
Michael Craig
-Non-fiction account of largest documented poker
game in history
-Our rating: 90 (out of 100)
-Fascinating story of billionaire taking on the top poker
pros
Our Overview
Michael Craig's The Professor, the
Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All
Time is a fascinating look not only inside the world of
professional poker, but inside the largest series of known poker
games to ever have taken place. This is a non-fiction account of
billionaire Andy Beal, a bank owner from Dallas, Texas and his quest
to beat professional poker players at their own game from 2001-2004.
However, unlike the players who try to take on the best at big cash
games or tournaments, Beal will only give the pros a shot at his
money if they play for the highest stakes ever contested. The game
was always heads-up limit hold'em at The Bellagio in Las Vegas and
the stakes often reached $50,000/$100,000. That meant potential
swings of millions of dollars per hand! What follows in
The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King is Craig's
thoroughly researched poker epic of Andy Beal's attempt to bring the
poker economy to its knees and, most importantly for him, master one
of his biggest self-induced challenges.
Comments
The sheer facts of the poker games
between Andy Beal and the pros should make this story huge: a poker
newcomer takes on the world's best poker players for $10 million at
a time. However, the interesting thing about this series of games is
that they largely took place in a private bubble away from the
limelight of poker. In fact, when the games started in 2001 there
was no limelight of poker. Even as the games continued through the
poker boom, there were no television crews documenting the action
for the rest of us to watch from home. With the stakes so high,
spectators weren't allowed to crowd the surrounding space and, in
fact, that would be the last thing that Andy Beal would want.
Andy Beal's background was in finance,
not poker. His most successful venture, Beal Bank based out of
Texas, netted (and still nets him) several hundred million dollars
per year. Beal didn't become interested in poker with the goal of
becoming a professional but rather as a personal challenge to master
the game as best he could. The best test of his progress, he
decided, would be to challenge the top poker professionals. In order
to lessen the obvious advantage of experience and sheer skill that
the pros held over him, Beal insisted on playing heads-up limit
hold'em for stakes that he rightfully assumed would take them out of
their natural element. Even to the top professionals, $100,000 big
bets put a significant chunk of their bankroll on the line. Even
short-term bad luck could cost millions. Saying that it was
essential for the pros to put aside the value of the chips couldn't
be overstated.
With the intent of getting a chance at
the billionaire's fortunes, the professionals would accept the
challenge at all costs. In order to lessen their individual
financial risk and build a large enough bankroll, Doyle Brunson
assembled a team of players/investors including his son Todd
Brunson, Howard Lederer (The Professor), Ted Forrest (The Suicide
King), Jennifer Harman, Chip Reese, and Barry Greenstein. Each of
them contributed as much as $1 million and would take turns playing
Andy Beal heads-up. Just the logistics of such a collaboration were
fascinating to read about and you do get a great behind-the-scenes
look at the world of high-stakes poker. In an inherently individual
game, the pros had to become a collective and rely on each other in
order to be able to succeed. The dynamics, dialogue, and psychology
behind these mega-games make for a truly interesting read.
While perhaps I shouldn't divulge the
eventual outcome of the series of games, I will say that as time
progressed the edge that the pros held over Beal almost became
nonexistent. The fact that the games took place over several years
speaks to the fact that they were closer than most would expect. As
for Michael Craig's actual writing, it is a small marvel how he
wrote with such detail on such a private game. He did a commendable
job tracking down and interviewing the key players and he has a
great reporting writing style. While most of the commentary is strictly
factual and the play-by-play is a bit dry at times, the book is very
engaging overall if you love poker. Craig also provides succinct
biographies and interesting tidbits about all the key players.
Overall, if you're a poker player or poker fan who enjoys
non-fiction, The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King
is a must-read. The magnitude of these games is simply mind-boggling
and takes you into a level of poker that is difficult even to
imagine.
Score
Out of 100, I give Michael Craig's
The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King a
90. Craig takes readers into the world of unimaginable games and the
politics between the top poker professionals.
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