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Google sends me an alert whenever something appears online mentioning my name and Andy Beal’s. (Mostly, it’s a way for me to collect reviews and comments from readers of SUICIDE KING.) Over the past day and a half, there has been a thread on the Two-Plus-Two forum titled “Andy Beal Back in Town?”

You have to admit, that’s a pretty eye-catching title. The first post in the thread sounds authoritative:

I was playing at Aria and took the tram to Bellagio for a change in scenery. Shortly after I started playing at like 11:30pm, Eli Elezra and Jen Harman arrive and a game starts. Nothing out of the ordinary here except that Andy Beal(100% confirmed him) was in the game again. I’m pretty certain that it is his first time back since the last time taking on the corporation. Time for some 30k/60k to start running again?

I may look into it but it seems so unlikely that I’d feel a little funny calling Andy about it. This is why it seems, if not impossible, than extremely improbable that Beal is back in Vegas playing poker. (He does come to Vegas occasionally on business, so maybe someone heard of his whereabouts that way. But that’s a lot different than him playing poker against the high-stakes pros.)

1. I don’t know anything about it.

That itself is not determinative. It’s not like Andy needs my permission to play or my connection with his story is somehow proprietary. But (a) we’re friends; (b) he has regarded me as helpful in keeping the story straight; (c) both Beal and the pros have occasionally asked my advice on administrative issues (like chip denominations, starting times, player substitutions, observers, etc.); (d) the last time I talked with Andy, a couple of months ago, we made tentative plans to play with some friends in Dallas; and (e) I haven’t heard anything about it from any pros, some of whom would be likely to let me know if he was in town or they heard he was in town.

2. Some of the details in the post don’t make sense.

First, Andy Beal told me he would never play at the Bellagio again. That’s not to say he couldn’t change his mind, but he had reasons having nothing to do with poker for not wanting to give the Bellagio his business. (I just wanted to make it clear to conspiracy theorists that it’s not that he thought he was cheated or there was something wrong with the room or the poker management. To the contrary, I don’t remember Andy ever saying anything but positive things about Doug Dalton and the Bellagio Poker Room.)

Second, 11:30 PM? That’s WAY past Beal’s bed time. Unless he dropped in to say hello after a night out, it’s super-unlikely he would play poker with anything but loose change late at night. He nearly always played high-stakes poker early in the day because that was when he was most alert, and because he (correctly) figured the pros wouldn’t like playing so early.

3. Andy Beal is playing a much bigger game these days.

This is the economic environment in which he makes fortunes, and he is in the process of doing just that. According to FORBES, his net worth rose from $1.5 billion to $4.5 billion in the past year. He’s been excited to show me some details from his newest hobby, auto racing, but we’ve had to cancel some tentative dates because he has been too busy. Once again, that doesn’t mean he is 100% certain NOT to be playing right now. It just seems inconsistent with the habits and preferences of someone I know pretty well.

My best guess, then, is that Andy Beal is NOT playing high-stakes poker in Las Vegas right now. If I confirm that or learn otherwise, either from my sources or from public information because I’ve been kept in the dark, I’ll let you know.

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One Response to “#941 – Is Andy Beal Back in Vegas Playing Poker?”

1. Jonathan Says:
   January 19th, 2010 at 5:41 pm

   Michael-

   I love the Andy Beal story. Read the book and was fascinated by the him. Andy is one of those guys whose motives for playing poker are very clear. IMO answering the question “why do I play poker” is the single most important step in becoming a profitable player. With a bit of brains, most anyone can study and learn the theory. However, it is a more elusive goal to understand the emotional reasons for playing the game and keep them in focus during stressful poker sessions. I think we can all learn a great deal form Andy Beal’s focus and commitment to his reasons for playing (or not playing) poker.

   Jonathan

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