#666 – The Greatest Poker Game – Third Anniversary

Today, February 14, Valentine’s Day, marks the third anniversary of The Greatest Poker Game. I call it that without reservation. I was there.

I’m talking about one day in the heads-up poker games between Andy Beal and the top Las Vegas pros. At the corner table in the Wynn poker room, on February 14, 2006, Beal and Ted Forrest met just after 9 AM to play the third day of poker in what turned out to be three sets of matches between Beal and the pros.

Andy had been in town the week of the Super Bowl and had lost $3.2 million in five days of very close heads-up games of $50,000-$100,000 Limit Hold ‘Em against Todd Brunson, Jennifer Harman, and Ted Forrest. Except for one portion of one of the sessions against Forrest, the matches were almost a dead heat.

A week later, on February 12, Beal returned and won $5 million against Jennifer Harman, a player who had historically played extremely well against Andy. The next day, he won $1.2 million from Todd Brunson, who – along with Howard Lederer – had gotten the better of Beal almost every time they ever played, sometimes for big amounts.

This set up the game of February 14. Andy had won $6.2 million the previous two days and not only erased the deficit from the previous visit but was now on the plus side of the ledger for $3 million. Andy started with his customary $10 million in starting chips. Ted Forrest, another historically diffiuclt opponent against Beal, started with just $3.8 million. (The pros were sticking with the remainder of the $10 million bankroll with which they started this match.)

What followed was the most amazing day of poker imaginable. There were TWO eight million dollar swings. Andy Beal, who prided himself on his ability to remain composed and implacable, said to me during one of the breaks, “It’s a fuckin’ war.” Ted Forrest, as fearless a poker player as you could imagine, actually forgot Andy’s name when talking with me during a break. That’s how intense it was.

Because of my role in helping making these games happen (plus a belief of Andy Beal’s that my presence would somehow assure that no “fisherman’s tales” would emerge from the games), I allowed to sit at the table and take notes. I commemorated the first anniversary of the game – and the beginning of my time on this Blog – by reproducing those notes. But they ran over 70 pages and I got busy with other blog-related subjects before I could complete it. I eventually finished the project by April 2007 and posted it.

Because this is once again the anniversary of that event, and the Blog has so many more readers than back in 2007, I am reposting the links to those posts. I encourage you to read through them. Several times, for half-hour stretches, I would document every hand. You can get an idea from this about the speed of the game and the conduct of the heads-up match. I also noted the mood of the players, the table chat, some of the absurd things that happened (like Ted asking me to run out and get a Valentine’s Day card for his girlfriend at the Wynn gift shop), and my overall observations of the match.

Including introduction and conclusion (which include some information that wasn’t in my notes that day), it runs eleven posts:

Introduction and Perspective

Part I

Part II (the second 37 hands)

Part III (just in time, Ted gains control)

Part IV (Beal fights back)

Part V (Forrest builds a pyramid)

Part VI (”It’s a fu–in’ war”)

Part VII (War of the Furies)

Part VIII (Andy Beal’s gold rush)

Part IX (”Something to prove – to myself”)

Part X/conclusion

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