Could Andy Beal save Limit Hold'em?
After losing $5 million in a day, Barry Carter wonders why Andy Beal has returned to poker, and what it could mean for the high stakes scene?
Before Rail Heaven, before the durrrrr Challenge, before Viktor Blom, there was Andy Beal vs the Corporation.
Last week millionaire banker and real estate expert Andy Beal ended his long time absence from poker to take on Todd Brunson. Brunson won $5 million from Beal playing Heads-Up Limit Hold'em with blinds of $50,000/$100,000.
As a fan of poker history, it is tremendously exciting to think that the Banker could be back and ready to take on the poker world. We have been wondering and speculating whether he would return to poker for years, and now he finally has.
The biggest game in poker history
For those of you that don't know, in the early 2000s Beal took on a team of professional poker players called 'The Corporation' which included Todd Brunson, Doyle Brunson, Jennifer Harman, Chip Reese, Ted Forrest, Gus Hansen, Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey. They all pooled their bankrolls together and took it in turns to play him.
The matches were all Heads-Up Limit Hold'em. Beal attempted to take the professionals out of their comfort zone by playing very early in the morning and raising the stakes beyond which had ever been seen in poker ($50,000/$100,000 blinds).
The Corporation ultimately won against Beal, but he also felted them several times in their battles. At one point Beal won over $11 million from them, which led Doyle Brunson to tell him “Go home Andy, we’re broke”.
In the final matches in 2004, Beal lost $16 million to Phil Ivey. The whole story was documented in the excellent book The Professor, The Banker and the Suicide King.
Could Heads-Up Limit come back?
It comes at such an interesting time in poker, because there are so many stories around suggesting that Heads-Up Limit is solved. A claim that could effectively kill that particular poker format. Yet here we are, talking about what will no doubt be the highest stakes game of the year, played at Heads-Up Limit.
It is easy to assume that Beal is just a rich fish, but he is a tremendously successful businessmen and has a strong mathematical background. Maybe these assertions that Heads-Up Limit is solved have in some way piqued his interest, wanting to prove them wrong? Or perhaps he has been working hard behind closed doors learning from a machine like Cepheus, the programme that claims to have solved the format?
Beal was infamous for trying to take the players out of their comfort zone in their matches. Perhaps the fact that all the money has dried up in Heads-Up Limit made it seem like a perfect time to play the pros, who would most likely be rusty in the format and sceptical of its profitability.
One last game before the staking bill?
One question I have swirling around my head over and over is why Todd Brunson? Beal was famous for wanting to play ‘the best’, that was the main motivation behind these matches. While Brunson Jnr is clearly an accomplished player, he is not in anyone’s ‘best of’ list today. Why wasn’t he challenging Daniel Colman, Daniel Negreanu or Phil Ivey (In particular after his $16m loss to Ivey in 2006, one would think he would want revenge)?
Maybe he considered Brunson his toughest opponent? Or perhaps he is genuinely friends with Brunson? Well done to Todd for what will probably be the game selection of the decade, but it seems odd that it is he who gets the phone call to set up the game.
My final thoughts about this unusual timing come in the wake of the news that staking could be banned in Las Vegas. The 'Corporation' famously pooled their money together to play Beal. Perhaps he returned to Vegas now thinking he might not get the chance to play these matches again if the bill was passed? Of course, that is only in Vegas, and he could easily play them in another state or country.
As a poker fan, I don’t care, I just hope that (as long as Beal is gambling with money he can afford to lose) this is the start of a new chapter in one of poker’s most compelling stories. It doesn’t help that the first match ended with Beal being felted for $5 million, but he has certainly suffered worse.
Why Todd Brunson? Why now? Will this reignite Heads-Up Limit? Let us know your thoughts in the comments box.
