Product Description

In 2001, a stranger from Texas descended upon the high-stakes poker room at the world famous Bellagio in Las Vegas and challenged some of the best poker players in the world. At the start, the stranger and one opponent each brought $1 million to the table, betting $10,000 and $20,000 per hand. But after warming up at those stakes, the Stranger, a self made millionaire by the name of Andy Beal, wanted to play even higher...And so began what would become the richest poker game in history. In order to play at such high stakes, the top ten poker professionals in the world had to form "The Corporation" to pool their money and keep playing against Andy Beal and his seemingly limitless bank account. The result was a series of seven games, culminating in October 2003 with a jackpot of over $20 million dollars.But THE PROFESSOR, THE BANKER, AND THE SUICIDE KING is more than just about a few hands of poker. It is a story of outsize egos, appetites, and ambitions; it is a story about the highest echelons of poker playing that very few are able to see; it is a story about one man, twenty million dollars, and one of the most exciting poker games in history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10902 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
'Craig includes enough details about the professionals to allow the reader insight into their gambler personalities. Having interviewed many of the participants in this legendary poker battle, he describes it with an appropriate sense of awe and readers

About the Author
Michael Craig, a long time gambler and poker player, has published two business books for small presses and has written for Penthouse, The American Spectator and Cigar Aficionado. He has visited Las Vegas over 100 times and has been collecting gambling stories for over two decades.

Customer Reviews

Fascinating!!!!!
This is one of the best gambling books I have ever read and is a true story. The story behind it is that in 2001, a stranger from Texas entered the high-stakes poker room in the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas and challenged the world's top poker pros to a series of heads up, high stakes cash games which in the end resulted in millions of dollars on the table. All the names are familiar from all the various poker shows on TV (except the stranger!)

The writer has obtained access to all the characters involved and gotten everyone's side of the story and re-constructed what happened over a period of challenges covering three years.

It is fascinating how the challenger, a very wealthy banker, won and lost millions of dollars and played, beat and also lost to many of the worlds top players. How he constantly tried to improve his game and pit his bankroll against the wits of the top pros. How he proved that even pros can be made to feel twitchy when they are re-raised into a multi million dollar pot

He certainly didn't do it for the money and appears he wanted to prove to himself that the pros could be broken.

The question is - what was the outcome?

For anyone interested in gambling stories, again, this is highly recommended.