The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King --a review

A while back I picked up a copy of Michael Craig's book, The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King. I finally got around to reading AND thoroughly enjoying it! The periods of time that I get to dedicate to reading are unfortunately limited, so there were times that I only got to read a chapter or so at a time. But what I usually wound up doing was sharing everything that I'd read with many of my fellow, local, poker players. What most of them usually got to hear was that I couldn't wait to read the rest of the book.

The story covers a series of poker games held between February 2001 and March 2004. To classify what transpired as "games" seems to trivialize what actually happened though. A series of heads-up limit Texas Hold 'em poker was played between a self-made Texas billionaire named Andy Beale and a collection of professional poker players at Table One at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. These were nosebleed stakes, that challenged even the upper boundaries and constitutions of the professional players involved. The stakes ranged from $20,000/$40,000 and culminated at an insanely high $100,000/$200,000! THIS was the biggest game ever played, and in the end nearly a staggering $20 Million dollars was in play! I'm still trying to comprehend and fathom the amounts and shudder to think how I would fare under the pressures of these lofty amounts. Who am I kidding? I WOULDN'T!

The professionals involved over the time frame varied, but included for the most part Doyle Brunson, Ted Forrest, Chip Reese, Jennifer Harman, Todd Brunson, Howard Lederer, Barry Greenstein, Hamid Dastmalchi, Chau Giang, John Hennigan and Gus Hansen (although a number others were invovled as well.) The insights into the various lives of these fascinating professional players were both entertaining and informative. The stories behind the story were intriguing in their own right. Of particular interest to me was the in-depth telling of Jennifer Harman's story. The diminutive little lady, while I have always admired her and her poker playing ability, she has been magnified 100-fold in my eyes after absorbing all that Michael Craig had to say about her. As well the interaction among the professional poker players was the stuff of a fantastic story in itself. The thought processes, the motivations to play at such epic stakes. The glimpse into such high stakes poker was both riveting and terrifying at the same time.

I don't want to cover any more of the actual occurrences and outcome of the games that Craig fully covers, since I recommend HIGHLY to anyone and everyone who drops by this blog and this review in particular to pick up your own copy today. You will find The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King. to be a real page turner, and very thought provoking.

My thanks and applause to Michael Craig for a masterfully crafted book. I'll be checking out your additional titles in the very near future!

Regards,

cheer_dad