FULL TILT POKER BLOG

Posted by mcraig | Filed under Uncategorized

I still get asked frequently what is happening with Andy Beal. Some people want to know whether he’ll be back to play some more high-stakes poker. Others just want to know the next chapter of his remarkable story, regardless of whether poker is involved. Because I’m still in contact with Andy and I respect how he likes his privacy, I usually tell people nothing or say something very general. But now I have some Andy Beal news to share.

As a banker, Andy Beal has naturally been very busy during the banking and financial crisis of the past year. I had explained in Suicide King that Beal made his fortunes during financial downturns. He is a self-described cheapskate who usually avoids the excesses of the crowds during the up-times. He likes to come in after everything has fallen apart to find bargains.

I think Andy is going to be on the cover of FORBES Magazine next week. They are running a major article on him, “The Banker Who Said No”. The article explains how Beal, since 2004, had been closing down bank operations because he did not see good value in the booming economy.  But he was also raising capital, which put him in perfect position to buy up assets of all the banks that overextended themselves. He is going to take over a lot of those same loans, but his bank will pay just pennies on the dollars.

Andy made the FORBES list of the 400 wealthiest Americans for the first time in 2008. They put his net worth at $1.5 billion, which I thought significantly undershot his personal fortune. With the opportunities that he has now, he could conceivably become one of the ten wealthiest people in the United States.

Not that it makes much difference to him. Although he told me he thought the FORBES piece was “nice,” he has always shunned publicity. (It’s kind of weird that we’ve become friends, since he dislikes publicity and we met because I was writing a book about him that he did not want written and for which he did not want to cooperate.) In particular, he took pride in keeping his name out of the FORBES 400 for many years, which led to a yearly ritual. Each year, when the FORBES list came out, I would send an email or leave a voice message saying, “I checked the new FORBES 400 and neither of us made the list. That’s bad news for me and good news for you.”

So what does all this mean? First, Andy Beal is too busy for poker now. I remember, back in Febuary 2006, he said he wasn’t even finding the heat of battle in a high-stakes poker game expecially rewarding. I asked why he still did it and he said, “What am I going to do? Work one hour a day? Go to bed at 8 o’clock?” Andy says he’s done with high-stakes poker but as long as the economy stays as it is, his resolve won’t even be tested. Second, the FORBES article reveals something I have known for awhile, which is Andy’s interest in race cars. We’ve talked about getting together sometime after the World Series and he has threatened to put me behind the wheel of an 850 HP race car. If I survive, I’ll bring along a deck of cards and let you know what develops.

Popularity: 2% [?]

• No Related Post

Permalink | April 9th, 2009 Play Online Poker at Full Tilt Poker

2 Responses to “#725 – Andy Beal’s Biggest Game”

1. Talkeetna Mike Says:
   April 16th, 2009 at 12:00 am

   Andy Beal is smarter than poker players.

2. Masked Financier Says:
   April 19th, 2009 at 11:40 am

   Andy Beal’s investing behaviour demonstrates one of the most vital traits necessary to be successful as an investor, and a poker player – being able to wait out during a period of really poor starting hands.

   When the boom got boomier, Andy would have thought that the investing pocket cards he was being dealt were awful. But he sat this bad period out – finding as many ways as possible to occupy himself. He took long lunches, played backgammon, and reduced his working hours. And then, since the boom has bust, he has gone all-in with his investments backed by considerable research.

   His expertise at investing and poker shows how there are important similarities between the two fields, and forms the basis of my theory that people can learn to invest using poker as an education tool. You can read more about this at my blog, where I have posted an article discussing Andy Beal in more detail.

Leave a Reply

Name Mail (will not be published) Website Comment