The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King

[Joe_d72]

I read this Book cover to cover without putting it down. It was a very good book, at times it was kinda all over the place, but it was a very well writen book with a great look into the world of high limit poker. I would pick it up and give it a read IMO.

[benneh]

i liked it, although it seemed like the author was repeating stuff a lot. the random tangents he took to describe the business of some players/andys life seemed a bit out of place at times too.

[LearnedfromTV]

I agree. The Beal v. Pros story is interesting enough, and Beal is a fascinating character, but what I really like is that this is a well-written book that focuses attention on the best cash game pros and does a decent job on explaining what makes them the best poker players in the world, especially as we are inundated with tournament celebrities. I have nothing against the Negreanus and Juandas and Hellmuths (even the Hellmuths!), but it seems wrong that most of the world thinks the tournament winners are the very best in the world. Personally, I find the Reese/Brunson/Greenstein/Harman/etc. stories more compelling and impressive than who wins WPT player of the year.

Rooting for more books like this.

[KingMarc]

Ditto. I find it hard putting this book down.

[Malachii]

I read it cover to cover the day I bought it, stayed up till 6 AM. Great read /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Simplistic]

after getting into a tiff with my g/f i decided to head to bed early and just read a bit, ended up staying up till 3am to kill the book.

i thought it was a great book. I found I didn't give Howard Lederer enough credit before as he is the one who ended up dominating Beal.

I found it very interesting that Beal was able to advance in skill that much headsup to the point where he would be pretty close to even-money against professionals.

Does anybody know if there was ever a re-match after this?

[cwsiggy]

a new game and the terms were under negotiations as of a few months ago, but I don't think anything has happened since.

[benkahuna]

I picked up this book yesterday at the book story and have almost finished it.

Absolutely captivating. Ted Forrest is a damn pimp. His first appearance in the book, priceless.

I also liked that in addition to the stories, the writer obviously has some understanding of poker's finer points and discusses player strategy a fair amount.

Lots of fun, poker journalism at its best.

[FrankStallone]

I think the pros are a little wrong not to have raised the stakes after they won the first time. I understand that beal has more money but they had just won. Usually the loser can ask for a raise in stakes, I thought Greenstein was a stand up guy for agreeing with beal. If it wasn't for Howard Jennifer and Ted the rest of the "big game players" would have been crushed. Forced to play chineese poker for fun. Beal is amazing.

[istewart]

Very good read.

[Anadrol 50]

The book was awesome! I thought it was funny how Jennifer Harmon flew back from Italy on a bs rumor. Why did he rip on Sklansky at the end? There must be more to it.

[FrankStallone]

How did he rip on Sklansky? I must have missed it..

[SNOWBALL]

The author was angry that Sklansky refused to give his insight into the intricacies of heads up play. I don't know why the author even asked Sklansky to do this in the first place because Sklansky has stated that he has very little experience playing head up. The author should have asked Neverwin or even a successful high limit prop player, because props often play short handed.

[FrankStallone]

ahh thanks man. Possibly just trying to sell more books?

[cwsiggy]

After reading this book, Ted Forrest in my new poker hero.
Love how he just jumps into the game initially with his own bankroll without the corporation's knowledge.

[benkahuna]

That's right. I think it's more complaining about Sklansky than ripping him, but it was such a small portion of the book was devoted to that part that I don't remember exactly.

[KudzuKing]

I just finished this, and enjoyed it very much.
Well written, and captivating. If you haven't yet read it, I highly recommend it.

The Sklansky knock was buried at the end of the "Acknowledgments" in the back of the book.
It seemed both critical and a compliment, in an awkward sort of way.

[mecbluefugate]

I read this entire book in the bookstore today, and its great

[Doc T River]

[ QUOTE ]
I read this entire book in the bookstore today, and its great

[/ QUOTE ]

And I thought I was a speed reader. It took me several settings at the bookstore to finish the book.

[The_Dealor]

i heard ther was a new book coming out that included th details of when beal returned to vegas after this book was written. no idea if its true though?

[phydaux]

Even though it was Howard Leaderer's nickname that made the title of the book, I though Jen Harmon can across as more of the "hero" of the book.

She basically offered to check herself out of the hospital and play Beal head's up for millions while hooked to a dialysis machine, and Beal was afraid that if she did that she'd still beat him.

Jen is my poker hero.

[Fubster]

This thread is now about "Suicide King" rumors.

[avatar77]

What about Todd Brunson? I think he was another hero in that book by dominating Beal.

At the time I read it, I never really quite knew Todd but since reading it and seeing him play on TV (i.e. High Stakes Poker), I give him full props as a world class player.